Romans Chapter 8 cont'd
But things are very different for those who are in Christ- they have a real choice. They are enabled to walk in the Spirit's power and not just their own. Therefore they have been liberated from the endless guilt trip associated with human religious performance and its impossible demands. For the law of life in the Holy Spirit has been instituted in Christ, which supersedes and transcends the law of sin and death- like aerodynamics over gravity! What the Mosaic legal system could not do because the people under it were infected with sin, God himself did by sending his Son from heaven to live as a man and personally identify with human weakness. Then, because of our serious sin problem, God fully vented his righteous anger against sin as Jesus, bearing all the past and future sins of humanity, bled and died on the cross.
Now the moral essence of the Mosaic code can actually be fulfilled in Christians whose power center is the Holy Spirit within them instead of their own mental, volitional, emotional or physical powers.
Comments:
The Father has always known that only Christ could, and can, successfully live "the Christian life"! Think of the joy that he and his glorified Son felt after the work of redemption was done and the Spirit could then be sent to literally indwell those who simply opened their hearts to agree with the good news of it all. Contemplate the divine plan (and may we never "outgrow" the wonder and awe that attends such awareness) of how Jesus conclusively dealt with the entirety of human guilt and shame in his substitutionary death and inaugurated the "new and living way" of experiencing human life by his powerful resurrection and glorious ascension. Savor the realization that the Father set his love upon you long before you were aware of or wanted him, drew you to faith in Jesus by the "magnetic" personality/power of the Holy Spirit and transplanted a new heart deeply within you that pulses to know, worship and serve God above all else.
In his wisdom, God has chosen to allow the "gravitational pull" of sin's presence to remain for a while longer in his creation. Until Christ returns, it will always be there exerting it's force and pressure upon our lives. (Kind of a bummer, eh?) It is a power we, as believers, are free to turn and succumb to. It has enough power to bring us down if we try to overcome it by self-reliance.
But there is another amazing power at work in this world...and alive in our souls...as well. It is the power of Christ's resurrection life. By this power, we can defy gravity and "walk on the water" of this fallen age...but only as we keep our eyes on Jesus and don't try too hard to calculate, measure or boast to others about how spiritual we are. Only Jesus Christ himself really knows how far we have developed into his likeness, only he is the true measure of our new life and only he is our boast.
The most "holy" people I know are more aware of their weaknesses than they are impressed by their strengths and they are able to take God and his great kingdom seriously without taking themselves too seriously. They are not sanctimonious in the attitudes they emote. They are not uptight around earthy people and they are able to perceive what these may become. They are not uncomfortable in their own skins. They are not bound by a multitude of behavoral rules. They are free spirited, constrained by love, bold, authentic, tender, tearful, transparent, good listeners, humorous, self-unconscious, happy for others to be the center of attention, non-defensive, quick to repent when they are wrong and even more humbled when they are praised. Father, help us to walk in your love by a true fellowship with your indwelling Spirit. And...make us more like your Son in every way each day.
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