BETTER THAN RULES…There is a need in the human mind to be able to anticipate what is coming. If we aren’t able to know what is around the corner, our sheep-like natures come out and we get nervous. For this reason, many people try to anticipate their spiritual futures by instilling controls and rules. And they apply them broadly across everyone else too. This was the dark side of the Holiness movement. I still hear left-over legalism in the guilt words of people. Here is the better understanding…
“For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” ~II Cor. 3:6
I don’t want to be too quick to say there aren’t some boundaries to be patrolled in our spiritual development. But I do want to strongly suggest that our spiritual life isn’t a system of rules and regs. There is nothing but guilt ahead for the person who tries to craft a one-size-fits-all spiritual system. Simply put, there is death in that approach. The new covenant was based on a different kind of reformation dynamic, in that the weeding out of self and replacing it with God-like-ness now occurs by simply following the Spirit of Christ that resides inside us. Day in and day out…that’s how the new covenant works. We are no longer staring at the borders and feeling the sting of our immediate failures, instead we are now keeping our eyes on the movement of Christ’s Spirit, and focusing on the courage He breathes into us to strive for the higher road. This way of living is simply BETTER THAN RULES. ~verlon
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"A man that follows the wisdom of the law only will break with it when a greater justification becomes self evident....
ReplyDeleteA man that follows his heart can not break with it, least it no longer be whole..He values its integrity a virtue, or he breaks it..."(NC)
“The glue that holds all relationships together - including the relationship between the leader and the led is trust, and trust is based on integrity.”(BT)