Word for Today, Wed, 21 Jan 2004, Relationship over Law
Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>
Dear friends,
Neil Anderson makes some strong points about building
relationships. While laws and restrictions, in some ways, are
important in the management of the things around us,
relationships take priority over law. One of the basic Christian
principles is that when the relationship with God governs the way
we feel and everything about us, the need for the Law is thereby
abolished because the Law of Love always wins.
Read on to see why this is so.
Yours in Christ,
Brian
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NEIL ANDERSON'S DAILY IN CHRIST
from Freedom in Christ Ministries
January 20
RELATIONSHIP, NOT REGIMEN
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free
from the law of sin and of death (Romans 8:2).
Walking according to the Spirit is more a relationship than a
regimen. Think about your marriage as an illustration. You may
have started out relying on some rules for effective
communication, meeting each other's sexual needs, etc. But if
after several years you can't even talk to each other or make
love without following an outline or list of steps, your marriage
is still in infancy. The goal of a marriage is to develop a
relationship which supersedes rules.
Or think about prayer. Perhaps you learned to pray using the
simple acrostic ACTS: adoration, confession, thanksgiving,
supplication. But if you have been a Christian for a few years
and your prayer life is no deeper than an acrostic, you've missed
the point of prayer. Prayer is not a formula; it's the language
of your relationship with God. Similarly, walking in the Spirit
is essentially a relationship with the indwelling Spirit which
defies quantification.
Even though Scripture doesn't give us a formula, it does help us
see what the Spirit-filled walk is and what it is not. Helpful
parameters are found in Galatians 5:16-18: "Walk by the Spirit,
and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh
sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the
flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you
may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the
Spirit, you are not under the Law."
So how do you walk by the Spirit? If I answered by giving you a
rigid formula, I would be putting you back under the law. The
Spirit is not an "it"; the Holy Spirit is a "He"--a person.
Walking by the Spirit is a relationship issue, not a legal issue
or ritualistic exercise. It is a walk with God.
Over the next several days we will examine what the Spirit-walk
is and what it is not.
Father, thank You that my life in You is a relationship, not a
set of rules.
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--
Brian Masinick, mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: http://www.geocities.com/masinick/
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