Grace-full Ponder

A recent ponder....  Ever wonder about the law from the Old Testament thinking verses Jesus in us and New Testament thinking?  Hope something resonates.

 

1. There is a HUGE difference between Scripture and the Word of God. Actually, I believe they are opposites because one produced death and the other life. Thank God that he loved the people of the Old Testament enough to teach them how to live safely, etc. and also bring them to a place where they could see they needed a savior. He continued to offer them relationship, but when they refused, he gave them what they wanted to show them it is really not what they wanted. The law-minded read the scripture. The Spirit-lead read the Word of God. Can you see the difference?

#2. The Old Testament wasn't bad. Jesus and Paul read the same scriptures of what the Pharisees read, but they interpreted love from it. They saw it from a higher perspective. Now that I understand grace, I also read the Old Testament and see grace. For example, Song of Solomon taught me that maturity is to say, “God loves me.” Immaturity is to say, “I love God.” Job is about Jesus. The reason Cain’s sacrifice was rejected is because his offering was a fruit of his toil. God always intended for our sins to be paid for by another. Thank you Jesus for grace-filled revelations from the Old Testament!

#3. However, when we look at the Old Testament from the perspective of right and wrong, this will produce death. Right and wrong is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It’s the focus on the behavior (or the fruit) rather than the source of life that feeds the tree. Our actions must never be lead by the “right thing to do.” We are lead by the Spirit. The action may be the same….The written law says no potty in the kitchen. The Spirit won’t lead us to put a potty in the kitchen. But who is the father of that fruit or action? The law or the Spirit? If it is birthed from the thinking that you MUST DO TO BECOME...You are committing adultery on the Bride Groom with the one he freed you from.  I could literally dance around the house when I think about that!  GOOD NEWS!

I LOVE this next one...

#4. This is a revelation that saved my life: Grace does not empower us to do the law. Grace is not the ability to behave. Grace has ZERO to do with behavior. I think this is what was meant by “having a form of Godliness but denying the power.” This is how I might explain it…We need to get to Australia to save our life. It’s impossible to swim there. So Jesus brought us back Life (His life) on a big cruise ship. Now all we must do to have his quality of life is to hop aboard and enjoy the ride. Mixing the gospel would be like thinking we now can swim the pacific with WWJD on our water wings. While Jesus sails on his cruise ship beside us cheering us own. No! If you are swimming, He’s hollering out, “come and rest and let us enjoy this life in relationship together.” Swimming makes you look like a champ to people watching from the shore, but you look like an idiot to the people in the boat.

#5. The written law came with Moses, but actually, law entered hearts with Adam. It is a mindset that, “I can become if I do.” Everyone agrees that our “doing” has nothing to do with our righteousness before God, but I tell you any tiny drop of that belief for ANY area of our life is poison. If you think you have to do something to improve, grow, press-in, be, etc...then you do not understand that you already ARE. I AM because HE “AM” (Sorry grammar girls.) Together WE ARE! Yes and Yes!

#6. Some people use pretty words that make the law sound right. But I tell you that there is a way that seems RIGHT to a man, but in the end... yep, = death. Let God be true and every man a liar! You know you hear the truth because you get a hallelujah in the heart. I like to call it a “flip flop” in my heart. Even if it is the “right” doctrine from man, but there is no hallelujah, I disregard it. Truth MUST come from the right heart. ( I personally think this is because it is revelation that is communicated more than mere words.) Even Satan used words that were truth. Satan’s “right doctrine” was the bait. If you see it as right or wrong, you are focusing on behavior/fruit instead of enjoying life that feeds the tree. You see Scripture and not Word. You hear with your fleshly ears instead of the ears of your heart. This is the knowledge of good and evil.

#7. Stop and think about this statement for about five seconds:  “Wisdom (a.k.a Good advice) will help you improve your life.”  Think.  Think.  Think.  Think.  Think about what you are thinking about.   

Can you hear it? What happened in your heart when you read that? This is subtle trouble. “Improving your quality of life” sounds good to the fleshly ears. Please open your ears and hear! If YOU think YOU can DO something to improve your life, JESUS WOULD NOT HAVE HAD TO COME! It’s all or nothing, my friends. Just pick hot or cold. Luke warm tastes disgusting. To think you need improving is to still think you lack something. You must now DO something to become or improve---live Godly.  It’s poison! It is this very way of thinking that lead Adam to take a bite of that apple to become somebody. He already was somebody but thinking he lacked KILLED US. Again I ask you, who is the Father of this fruit/behavior? Abraham had to cast out the Bond Woman AND her fruit. Was she a bad person? No way, but it wasn’t the promise. Abraham did that in his own efforts. Look at the death he produced. God created the promise in a womb that was once dead. Ga-lory! Just like Jesus becoming the sin and law and dying, then raised to life. And we have the same power within us. Not to live the law, but to have LIFE. We can learn to know if we are listening with the ears of our heart or the ears of our head. It's like a switch. Which ears are you listening with?

#8. When people focus on their behavior at all, they fall into the trap, “I must do to become.” They begin to doubt the voice in them and think they must rely on a man to tell them how to think and act toward God. This is a dangerous thing. They become sin/self/fruit-conscious instead of God-conscious. It happens even in grace circles. This is not one bit different than the Hebrew children sending Moses up on the mountain to hear from God for them. So sad because it hinders relationship and LIFE even if they know God is not mad at them.

#9. It is this belief system that Jesus abolished. It used to bother me that Jesus took a whip into the temple, but now that I see, I ADORE him for it. He was crashing the belief system because they were imputing that system onto people. Believe what you want, but don’t you dare mess with God’s kids and make them think they are not enough. Jesus fulfilled all the written and unwritten law. Where there is no law there is no sin. And let's face it. Sin like people think of sin is only fruit of unbelief. That's it. When we tell them the truth, they have the information that will help them believe. They already have the Truth on the inside.  Sometimes they need to hear it from another so they can hear it in their heart.  They will see who they are and they will stop producing the “bad” fruit.

#10. Thank God he loves us and doesn't enforce HIS system on us either. He allows us to choose… What a fabulous Daddy! What a fabulous bridegroom!

#11. Please allow me to give a very practical example of what I'm talking about. Nowhere in the Scripture does it say that I must have the house clean, kids clothed, and supper on the table by 6:00. But I thought I did. This was an expectation I had on myself. A law was written on my heart. The thought that, “If I want to be a good mom and good wife, this is what I must do.” It caused frustration. Negative emotions always mean there is a law somewhere in your heart. The pressure I placed on myself leaked into our whole family. Is it considered wisdom to keep the house clean and cook supper? I tried to use grace to fulfill those responsible tasks to help me become the mom I should be. (Sounds crazy to me now.) The actions themselves are a blessing to our family, but it was causing death in the peace and relationships of our home. There was no life. If I didn’t get it done, I felt guilty and condemned. I felt less than. If Wayne came home and began to help me, I became offended because it was just a reminder that I couldn’t do “my” job. It wasn’t until I understood grace and cast that “law” into the sea that life was allowed to enter. My value is not placed on what I can do. My value is not even based upon the behavior of my kids. I allow myself to be pampered and served and loved by the Lord and simply out of that enjoyment, I do stuff. I know I don’t have to do it, but I want to. That is the difference. Cooking supper is fruit from love and value I have for myself and my family. Now there is rest and peace. No pressure. There is contentment with or without a messy house. This is life of the God kind. The actions are the same, but one way of thinking produced the fruit with death. The other produced the fruit with life. This is what Grace is….not the ability to do law. It is believing and resting and finding our true value…our life hidden is his, one with him. We are valuable because he loves us. Not because we can do stuff. “Apart from Him, I can do Nothing” You know what that word “nothing” means in the Greek? ----“NOTHING”

#12. Wisdom is Innocence. Does that resonate?