God gave us the law to bring us to the realization that we
can never keep it and to point us to our Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus set us
free from the law, because He writes His law in our hearts (Hebrews
8:10; Romans 8:2). We obey them instinctively. We are no longer
separate, but we are one with both our Father and the Son (John 17:11, 21-23). We live and move and
have our being only in Him (Acts 17:28). We stop courting our own way of
life or pursuing our goals, ambitions and desires.
As long as we insist on working “for” God, we are like the
foolish Galatians (3:1-3). We try in our own strength and effort to please
God. Until we realize that our old human nature is dead and passed away.
Everything about us is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). We live
only for Christ now, just as He lived only for our Father. We are united with
Christ in God, and Christ is our only way, truth and life (Colossians
3:3-4; John 14:6).
God and Christ have a difference in manifestation, with
Christ being Immanuel, the physical form of God; and also in persons, with God
as the Father and Jesus as the Son. However, Jesus states that He and our
Father are one. Due to their union, Christ who dwells in us by His Spirit
unites us with the Trinity (John 17:21). We do greater works than He did,
because His Spirit abides within each one of us (John 14:12). We are
His instruments for righteousness (Romans 6:4-11).
When we stand firm in the power of Christ’s might (Ephesians
6:10-12), we withstand the devil and all of his demons. We are no
longer slaves to sin or under the penalty of the law of sin and death (Romans
8:2). Jesus took our sins and nailed them to the cross, giving us His
righteousness in exchange (2 Corinthians 5:21). We are raised to walk
in freedom in this new life, not to indulge our flesh, but as an expression of
Christ in the earth.
Prayer:
Father God, as long as we hold onto the barest shred of
carnality, we hinder our union with the Lover of our soul. Our only hope is to
totally surrender as Your Spirit crucifies the desires of our flesh, especially
when they attempt to retake control our life. Help us to completely surrender
to Your holy virtues through our life in Your Spirit. Use us to improve the
quality of nature in our city and to nurture the hurting lives, which live all
around us. Remind us that we serve as Your representatives for spiritual change
in the sphere of life all around us.
Thought for the Day:
Without total death to our carnal, self-life, we have no
hope of living in the freedom of a passionate walk with our Lord.