loosed.. I'm free

this is rather personal, but it may strike some chord in you ..

occasionally i read a devotional thought written by a modernday mystic ..

today it concerned the relationship between law and grace, as delineated by apostle paul

the writer says law is only there to get us started

it gives information, it cannot give transformation

israel relied on being 'privately' good instead of trusting God for their goodness .. they stumbled over that stumbling-stone..

that was me maxed out

i did have a 'religious' heartexperience, and was changed, moved in the direction of God

but then .. i allowed (or encouraged) the 'law' to become my master, judging me

and me judging me, grading my self according to its standard ..

fundamentalism was a driving force in that

my lawlife, pharisaical tenure, was the stumbling block, rock of offense

it took major life crises, back-to-back, to throw me into a drowning struggle

and 'law' was completely useless ..

by that time, i was virtually 50, much of life already downstream ..

what a stubborned waste ..

but .. but now i'm loosed!, free from law, my spirit engaged, my heart on fire, my life geared in a kingdom direction, driving toward Jesus, following, wanting nothing else but him, to be like him, to know him, to be him ..

as apostle paul says so well ..

" And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, 

         so that I could gain Christ 

         and become one with him. 

I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 

I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! "

(Philip. 3:6 ff)

peace

and love