Monday, February 22, 2010

One milli ounce of poison

Religion stifles the very life within a person. Religion imposes what it think is right, when we are liberated, in Christ and we have the Spirit (The Teacher) to guide us. Imposition (no matter how subtle its nature is) and condemnation is never from God. It is the hallmark of a religion.

In Jeremiah 31:33-34, we see - "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.

I just have this feeling that God is much smarter than all of us put together. He died for a person, He removed the old nature and chose to forget his iniquities. Now it is Him who draws the person to Him. His Spirit convicts him of the peril of not trusting in Him. When yielded, He changes the soul of the person. When the person is connected with the person of Jesus, new life flows from him. It is that intimate walk with Jesus that brings about changes on the outside, not the personalized doctrines.

Is it "rebellion" to speak against the message (not a person or an organization) when it tries to put me under the curse because of the mixture of law and grace (see Gal 3:10)? Look at it this way; if someone harms your family members, would you stand idle "in the name of love"? I would hope not. Yes, you love the invader with your whole heart because Jesus loves him unconditionally and His love is flowing through you, but you will not allow his negative actions to affect you or your loved ones.

Read it in context; legalism is the thief that comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10) and I refuse to let that happen to me or my family anymore. All it takes is one milli ounce of poison to spoil a big container of soup. One milli ounce of legalism is more than sufficient to nullify the finished work on the Cross. Paul calls it foolishness when we try to mix God's gift with our weakly little efforts. I would urge you to please read the letter that Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians in five different versions, until the mighty truth sinks in. Ask the Holy Spirit to quicken you with the revelation of the finished work on the Cross.

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