The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe
"Live and Do"
"if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law" (Galatians 3:21).
"The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2).
The law of Moses required a life of adherence to commandments and rituals in order to live - "This do and thou shalt live" (Luke 10:28). No one born of Adam's fallen race ever attained life by this code of morality and ethics. "The law made nothing perfect… "by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified" (Hebrews 7:19; Galatians 2:16).
Conversely, "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" provides life as a free gift, which makes possible obedience to the commands of God. His enlivening presence empowers a life that genuinely glorifies Him whereby we live in order to do rather than do in order to live. We "work out" that which God "works in" (Philippians 2:12-13). This involves faith on our part, namely "being confident of the very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). We live from life, the life of Christ, rather than for life by our own faulty and futile efforts.
This "grace of life" known by faith requires ongoing reorientation and growth in our thinking (I Peter 3:7). Devilish, fleshly, and worldly influences seek to divert our confidence in God's promise of life, tempting us to forget or neglect His active presence within us. This applies to both the generalities and specifics of our lives. We are alive in Christ as a general matter of truth and fact. "Christ… is our life" (Colossians 3:4). We then "live through Him" when we affirm and submit to the reality of His living and vital working in us as applied to the specific aspects of our lives (I John 4:9). In essence, we either function by faith, living from Christ's life, or we falter by the futility of unbelief, namely, believing we can and must function by our own human "life" that is actually death. "To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace" (Romans 8:6).
To close with an illustration, a bit later I will do yardwork in warm and humid summer weather. I can view this task as merely a labor of human effort, which will certainly be involved. Or, I can believe the truth that the presence and power of God teems within my spirit, and is available for purpose, planning, and performance. Choosing to believe the truth will not eliminate the sweat and effort presently known in the labor (Genesis 3:19). It will, however, mean that the enabling of God will be present as I "walk in the Spirit" even as I "live in the Spirit" (Galatians 5:25). This blessed truth applies to all things in our lives whereby the grace and truth of the Lord Jesus means that we live in order to do, rather than do in order to live.
"if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (enliven) your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you."
(Romans 8:10-11)
Weekly Memory Verse
"Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness, He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous."
(Psalm 112:4)
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