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Life in Jesus

  • Isaiah 29:13-14: The Lord says: These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.
    Philippians 3:3-6:For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh--though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

    Words are words, and they have power, but when it comes to our righteousness, are we fully relying on Jesus, or our own works, our own righteousness? God the Father knows all things, and especially our hearts, which is what He longs for.
    I believe that God shows us this in scripture from Isaiah, and is pointing directly at Paul. He says this in Isaiah, so that we can see by the example of Paul who had probably the single most epic transformation for Christ.
    Paul tells us clearly that he is the Hebrew of Hebrews, and all the I's are dotted, and the T's crossed. He even calls himself faultless in legalistic righteousness. So why would he, Paul decide to drop all that he worked so hard to become, for a life devoted to the message of Jesus Christ? All that Paul is referring to, opposes that legalistic righteousness.
    Because his wisdom perished, and his intelligence vanished. The wonder upon wonder that the Father is referring to is the process of becoming blinded, a conversation with Jesus, and the scales coming off of his eyes. He goes on from there in the full knowledge of Jesus Christ, and writes two thirds of the new testament that we read in our bible.
    Do we think that we could compete with the righteousness of Paul? It would be difficult if not impossible to have the perfection of the law, works, the knowledge, the zeal, all of it. He tells us that if we put confidence in our own flesh, he ( Paul ) has more than us!
    So why would we think that we could rely on ourselves for righteousness?
    We don’t have to. Not only is it a difficult task, it seems that it leads us away from the heart of God. We all long to please the Lord, to be set apart as a special child of God, and we are, each of us are special to the Lord. We don’t have to rely on our righteousness to get the Father's attention though. We don’t have to work for the attention. We only have to point to Jesus, and rest in Him in all situations. When we see ourselves in Jesus at all times, leaning on His sacrifice, on His love, on His salvation, we are free to be who we are created to be. We don’t have to do what we, in our flesh think God wants us to do. We only have to draw closer to Jesus through our hearts of love. The things God calls us to do will become evident in the Spirit as we worship in the Spirit.
    God does not work off of lists of rituals that we have to go through to be close to him. We don’t have a checklist of items to become "right with God." We have been brought up to recite creeds, and make gestures, and to do this for that, and that for this, in reality a heart filled conversation with the Father will do. Jesus paid the price for us to go directly to the Father with all our requests, and all of our praise, worship, and love. We no longer have to be a perfect Christian, abstaining from the list of no, no's as if He were Santa Clause with a naughty list, and nice list. I don’t mean to be negative to well-meaning Christians, but we have to be free in Jesus Christ to be who we were created to be, faulty and filthy as we are, we are wearing the white robe of righteousness in Jesus Christ. This is not an approval to sin, but it is to release the power of fear, and the hold that sin has on some of us as Christians. We are all the same before the Father through Jesus Christ. That means no more striving to be better than anyone else so that we may boast. We boast in Jesus Christ, and know that we have right standing before the Father through the amazing works of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
    Take it from Paul who was the closest to being righteous in the Law, and yet gave that up in the knowledge of the truth of Jesus Christ.


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5 comments
  • 1
Jim Jarrell
Jim Jarrell To me, it is time to follow Jesus' teaching. In Matthew 6:33 Jesus said; "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things wi be added unto you." In Romans 4:3, Galations 3:6, and James 2:23 the Bible tells us that Abraham Believed God and He counted it as Righteousness to him. I ask is there anything else we can do? 
December 5, 2015
  • 1
Jeffrey Smith
Jeffrey Smith No, that's the point! Thank you for your comment!
December 5, 2015
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David and Dianna Wyles
David and Dianna Wyles What an inspired article! Thank you for your listening ears and spirit of a faithful servant. Freedom in Christ can be such a confusing topic. Yes Christ set us free! No it doesn' t mean to stay in sin! My husband is very zealous about this subject. I will have to share this with him this morning:) thanks for sharing your inspiration and encouragement. Blessings
December 6, 2015
  • 0
<i>Deleted Member</i>
Deleted Member Such an amazing description and understanding of how Jesus really wants us to serve Him, we cannot always be perfect and everything followed by so many rules and regulations that people have put upon us to make us feel this is the only way to serve Jesus. I went to a church many many years ago, that they actually felt more like a cult than a church, I didn't stay there very long, these people had to so many things you had to do their way, none of them were God's ways that He had showed me in His Word that I had ready many many times, but these people had their own laws and rules and regulations and if you weren't willing to follow them, then you were beat over the head with their words from the pulpit, I hadn't gotten to the point that i felt like if I did anything that they didn't approve of, I was lost and not going to make it to heaven, that I was lost and going to the bad place, but Praise The Lord I had been raised in a church that was filled with love and joy and peace and happiness, not cult like, so I soon left this church and I only went there for a short time, but it was almost as if they had you brainwashed if you didn't do it their way, then you were absolutely wrong, so fear became to take over in my heart, that if I didn't do exactly the way they said, then I wasn't a Christian, but I am so thankful for the spirit of discernment, even though for awhile there they had me in so much fear, that I didn't know which way to turn, but through this it made me truly realize never, ever put your eyes on people, because they can fail you and they will possiblely lead you the wrong way. Keep you eyes on Jesus, pray for His direction and never let people make you feel if you don't do it their way, you're lost. Jesus doesn't give us the spirit of fear and doubt, but of love and comfort and hope in Him. Please keep your eyes on Jesus, pray and trust Him for all things, let Him be your leader, and let Him direct your steps, follow Jesus, not mankind. 
December 6, 2015- Edit- Delete
  • 1
Jeffrey Smith
Jeffrey Smith Thank you so much Tammy for sharing. You're following God's call on your life, and I'm so thankful for all you share. Thank you for affirming the words God gives me.  I hope all is going well with your recovery!! Blessings!
December 6, 2015