Rules

If you do, why do you follow the rules?

 

People have widely different motivations for following rules.  Some spiritual and some not.  There can even be wicked motivations for following rules.

 

Do you follow them because...

...you can see the purpose of the rules?

...it helps you to fit in?

...you trust the person/people who set the rules?

...you want to please the person who set the rules?

...you want to avoid punishment? (but you would break the rules if you could get away with it)

 

Pharisees were not some of Jesus's favourite people, yet they kept the law in a very strict way.  Whether you keep the law and follow the rules or not, if you are not concerned with love, mercy, and justice in a wise balance, you have not the Spirit.

 

Aim to please God by understanding the spirit of the law - the reason it exists.  When particular laws fail to serve that purpose, don't follow them.

 

Hope

Do you ever face situations where any decision you make will lead to undesirable outcomes?  There is no clear pathway forward and all you can do is pick one choice at random.

 

A more concrete example:  your 16 year old gets in an argument with you because they want to drop out of school.  They say they will leave home if you don't let them.  What do you do?  One way they ruin their education, the other way they cut you off.

 

With God, in Christ, there is always hope.  

 

It might not feel very loving or spiritual, but the spiritual way forward is first to pray - commiting the situation to God, second decide - if it comes down to a coin toss so be it, third is to keep praying and hoping in the knowledge that God is in control and will use the decision for ultimate good.

 

What is ultimately good is what brings glory to God.  God's glory is seen in the demonstration of his character.  God is merciful and pours out overflowing blessing upon his people.  You can know that he will either sort the situation out, or use it to strengthen you for something that is to come.

 

Satisfaction

Do you expect to find it in this life?  In part or in full?

 

Nothing can bring us perfect joy until Jesus returns and our transformation is completed.

 

Until then, search out satisfaction in the blessings that God has given to us to help us get a taste of the endless satisfaction that begins in eternity.  

 

Family, children, gifts and talents, the pursuit of holiness, the display of the glory of God in our lives, music, food, pets, exercise, and much more.  Done mindlessly, pleasing merely the flesh, will not bring satisfaction.  Done with God in mind, with a thankful attitude, appreciated in balance with all that is good, that is a spiritual thing of beauty to God.

 

Accountability

Some need personal accountability to other believers in a more significant way.  

 

We are all weak, and we are all ultimately accountable to God, before whom we will all stand to be judged.  We are not judged in this strong sense by any man, so surely we should fear God more?  

 

He sees everything, and nobody can lie to Him and deceive Him the way one man can deceive another.  There is no hiding your sin from God.

 

Better to be directly accountable to God, and to know the presence of His Spirit in conviction of sin.  Keeping your hand from that which is evil because the God who has had great mercy on you can see you always.

 

But... we are so weak and filled with unbelief that we need an accountability partner at our own level.  This should be an encouraging and growing relationship to make each other better believers, walking in the fruit of righteousness more convincingly.  And we should make a practice of learning to do this because God is with us, rather than because we will meet once a month with a friend we don't want to disappoint.

 

God is real.  Aim not to disappoint Him before man.

 

Mistakes

What happens when you make a mistake?  A moral mistake.

 

Do you admit in humility that you have done wrong, in committing an offense against the Most Holy; an offense that is worthy of eternal punishment because any offense is an infinite crime when against an infinitely holy God?

 

Do you then throw yourself on His mercy, trusting that He is as merciful to His children as He is Holy?

 

It sounds dramatic when considered in these terms, but it should be dramatic.  Wildly so.  As dramatic as the sacrifice of the life of the greatest man who has ever walked the earth.  As dramatic as the death of God the Son.  As dramatic as his return to life and subsequent ascension to the heavens.

 

Most of us do not appreciate the great glory of God in the moment-by-moment forgiveness of God.  But even in the smallest appreciation, which puts trust in Christ for forgiveness, there you will find the work of the Spirit.

 

Spontaneity

Who you really are is what comes out when you are spontaneous.

 

Are you spontaneously spiritual; displaying: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, meekness, gentleness, self-control?

 

Or are you more likely to demonstrate: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions,divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these?

 

Knowing God (more)

Are you happy with your current knowledge of God?  Do you know His character and His will inside and out?  Maybe you've read the Bible so many times that you don't think there is any more to learn about God?

 

You can always know more of God.  Even though you grow for a billion years or more, you will still be merely scraping the surface of His great glory.  If not through His word, through walking with Him amongst His people.

 

If you are not overjoyed to learn more of your Maker, after whom you are created, in His image, then seek it.  Seek joy though knowing more of God.

 

The one in whom the Spirit dwells will receive much joy at the growing knowledge of, and communion with God.  Share the joy.