Wednesday, May 6, 2015

The letter kills, the Spirit gives life

2Co 3:5  Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God
2Co 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life

The letter kills.  Truly the commandments without grace offer only death to us.  The grace of God is found in sacrifice- in the old testament an animal sacrifice was made, in the new testament our Savior's sacrifice was made.  Christ is the true sacrifice the ultimate sacrifice that ALL the former sacrifices pointed towards.

The LETTER of the law reveals our sin.  The LETTER of the law reveals God's love.  These are TRUTHS.

Without the revelation of our sin we cannot seek forgiveness.  The law reveals the reasons we are separated from God- the sins that separate us from God. The law reveals our inability to reunite ourselves to God. The law reveals we need a SAVIOR to reunite us. The law reveals perfection, a perfection we cannot attain in our sinful selves.

The Spirit gives us life.  Our Savior gives us life through the Spirit! Our hope is in the Spirit.  We cannot have eternal life without the Spirit. We can put on some façade of being able to keep all the commandments and pat ourselves on the back each day we have a 'good' day and do everything we believe God would have us do. We can pretend all we want that it is US who saves us, but it's living a LIE.

If we believe that keeping the commandments saves us then we are LOST. If we believe the our Savior's sacrifice saves us, then we have life.  We will keep the commandments out of LOVE for our Savior, not because we believe the commandments will save us, they won't.  We do for love what we know love desires.  Will we be able to keep the law? No, but if our spirit is willing even though our flesh is weak we must with our mind desire to keep the law of love in the spirit that it was given and revealed to us by our SAVIOR.

Please Father, please keep us in YOU, in the love of our SAVIOR! 

By Your GRACE and MERCY, YOUR LOVE!


Amen.

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