Alive in the Spirit - Dead through the Law: The Real Reason for the Season

Too many of us proclaim to be Christians yet are not true Christ-followers. We have Bibles on our bedside tables, tablets, and phone apps - we seem to have one everywhere but in our hearts. We walk about our lives in this world, living for it, and letting ourselves become our idols. Many of us have even allowed the Bible to become an idol, of sorts, in our lives - yet we realize it not.

Before any of you reach out to me with cries of "blasphemy" or "heresy" please open your hearts and stay your hands. Please listen first to what the Lord, your God, has to say to your heart through scripture and revelation of the Spirit:

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Not enough of us are living Spirit-driven lives. We are either alive in the Spirit or dead in the flesh. Every day, many of us, drink filtered, stagnant water - it may no longer contain any contaminants, but it does not contain the proper life-sustaining nutrients either. You can drink your fill of it, but unless you take in with it the proper minerals, it will not keep you alive indefinitely. It is in this same way that I say this - Many of us take in our fill of the Bible, yet do not drink of the Living Water inside.

We are stagnant and lukewarm. We have traded in the overflowing peace and presence of the Living God for a shallow, dry, barren and legalistic faith. We spend more time arguing about what the Bible says than actually trying to listen to what the Word has to say us. And what the Word has to say is this - "YOU MUST LIVE A SPIRIT-DRIVEN LIFE." Not just for a few hours on the Sabbath, but every single day. From first to last, from start to finish - we MUST be alive in the Spirit.

Is this not why Jesus came to us? He came so that we may forever know true peace and rest in God. He knew that His people were too focused on trying to earn their way into Heaven on a works-based faith. He knew that they would all die in two ways - first, in the flesh, and then in the spirit. He knew that they were already dead, because they had neglected the living God, and did not drink of the Living Water. In Jeremiah 2:13 it says, "My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water."

If we are still arguing (Titus 3:9) amongst ourselves about what it says in the Bible, how and when will we ever live in its Truth? We try to lean upon our own, human understanding to interpret what the Bible says about what we should and should not do - what is and is not a sin. These things are important, but so long as no one is being harmed, they are most important for you to remember about your own decorum, as you are living out your own life. The life of a living sacrifice - holy and pleasing to God.

We cannot do this unless we are alive in the Spirit. For the Spirit will interpret for us what we need to know. If something becomes a problem in the Church, the Spirit will lead its elders in how best to deal with it. The Lord will speak to the hearts of all involved, guiding them gently into a right relationship with Him - on both a personal level and as a member of the Body of Christ. If a problem does not concern you, let it not worry you, and do not try to involve yourself with it. As it says in Matthew 7:3-5, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

We must all endeavor to live as one in Christ Jesus. There are many superficial constructs that serve to separate us in this world. The enemy seeks to divide and conquer - to rule over that which he did not build. To lose the battle is to fall for the illusions that separate us - that make us believe that one man is superior to another, and that his life is somehow worth more than others. We begin to act as though we are not all God's children. We trade in love for enmity of our fellow man. We must all remember what it says in Galatians 3:28, "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

We must put an end to this legalism!! Jesus gave His very life to free us from all of this. He died for us so that we may no longer be shackled by the law that leads to death. Because of His love for us, we will never have to fear the second death or the power of the grave. Before giving His life, Jesus summarized all of the Lord's commandments unto us as such - You must love the Lord with all of your heart AND love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus says this to us, of the Spirit, in John 16:7, "Very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you." Then later, in John 16:13-14 He says, "When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you."

If we truly love the Lord we must show it through the good lives that we live. We must switch from a "works-based faith" to a faith, based on works.

Do not pass the poor on the street - help to feed, clothe, and shelter them. Do not kick any of your brothers while they are already down - help them and lift them up. Do not let one another struggle with sin alone - but meet together with one another and let iron sharpen iron. Condemn no one! And always show everyone the same love, kindness, and good works that you would like to receive from them. You wish to be treated with love, respect, and dignity, no matter what manner of misdeeds you have committed in the past. Remember then, that ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." - Lamentations 3:22-23

No matter who you were yesterday, you are called today to be holy. Please do so with love in your hearts, for He who loved us first.

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May God bless you and yours richly during this last week of Easter. May all of our hearts be reminded of what the real reason for the season is. Please God - Heal our lands!! And may they forever overflow with Living Water. I ask this of You in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.