Letting Go of Rule Keeping and Embracing the Kingdom of God

 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”  - Jesus in Matthew 13:44  NIV

Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Psalm 51:12  NIV 

    Joy is normal for believers in Christ.  If joy is missing from our lives then we need to ask God to show us how His joy can be restored in us.

    The most common joy thief is reducing the Christian life to keeping a list of rules.  When  our focus is on keeping the rules, we are on a sure path to one of two joyless destinations.  If we are good at rule keeping, then we become prideful. Then, instead of finding joy in our relationships, we are often critical of others.  If we  are not so good at rule keeping, we become more and more frustrated with ourselves.  We will become discouraged or maybe even depressed.  Both of these paths lead to frustration and disappointment with the Christian life.  

    This does not mean that Christians don’t care about being good.  God is good and we want to be a reflection of Him.   What it does mean is that trying to be good by focusing on the rules does not work.

    So how do goodness and joy grow in our lives?  Both of them come from confidence in God.  We can have confidence that:

• We are fully accepted and loved by God.

• God’s ways are always the best ways.

• God will empower us to do his will and fill us with his goodness in this life.

• God will one day conquer all evil and restore everything with his goodness.

   This week, write down the above statements on an index card.  Read them several times a day.   Each time you read them, ask God to produce his goodness and joy in you and ask God to give you the daily bread you need to do his will.  After you ask, have confidence that God will give you your request.

Pursuing the Full Life of Jesus

And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.              2 Corinthians 5:15  NIV

    Jesus died for us so we can live for him.  Be careful that you don’t view this as some kind of contractual obligation.  If you view living for Jesus as something you “have” to do because he died for you, then living for Jesus will not produce joy.  It will feel like a burden and a daily grind.

    Jesus didn’t die for us so we could live a life in a tiresome daily grind.  Jesus came to give us life to the full (John 10:10).  He died for us to give us the opportunity to be renewed by and live in the goodness of God.  Our loving Heavenly Father wants us to understand that his commands are not a burden but a blessing.  The Holy Spirit wants to help us discover that the biggest blessing on earth is living in harmony with God and his will.

   The best way to discover the blessing of doing God’s will is to pray “The Lord’s Prayer” sincerely each day.  As you daily come to your Heavenly Father, seeking the daily bread you need to do his will, you will be surprised at how He changes your life.  Living for Jesus will move from being a “have to” to a “want to”.  Start each day this week by sincerely praying the Lord’s prayer.  Better yet, pray it each day for several weeks so it can grow into a lifetime habit.

Do You Believe Christ's Life Can Flow Through You?

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.   Romans 6:8  NIV

“I am convinced that the majority of Christian people are living on a plane far below what our Master planned for them.”   -  Jonathan Goforth, 1859-1936, missionary to  China.

  

   Ask yourself:  Do I truly believe that I can experience the life of Christ flowing through me?  As Jonathan Goforth observed  a century ago, the majority of Christian people are not enjoying the fullness of Christ that God has promised  to give them.  God wants to fill us with Christ’s life, but we don’t experience it.  Why?

   

   The first obstacle that keeps us from experiencing Christ's life flowing through us is that we simply don’t believe that his life can flow through us.  We let our knowledge of our weaknesses and our experience of our failures blind us to the potential we have in Christ. 

    How can we overcome this obstacle?  The place to start is to exercise our trust in God to keep his promise to fill us with Christ’s life.  Like a muscle, the more we exercise our trust, the stronger it becomes.  It’s more simple than we might think.  A simple way to exercise your trust is to continually offer a simple prayer to God in which you invite God to fill you with Christ’s life and believe that He WILL answer that prayer.   If you pray this prayer daily, even several times a day, and trust God to keep his promise, you will begin to notice a difference in your experience of Christ.   The prayer below is an example of a prayer you can use to invite God to fill you with Christ’s life through the Holy Spirit.  Write it down and then pray it at the beginning of each day this week.  Even better, carry it with you and pray it several times a day so you aware of God’s work in you.

   “Father, I give every part of myself to you today - my thoughts, my words and my actions.  I want Christ’s life to flow through every part of me in everything I do.  Please fill me with Christ’s life today and every day so that I can do your will on earth just as it is done in Heaven.  Thank you for keeping your promise to do this.”