Today's happy moment came during my Bible study when the light came on. Sadly, it was the light of a firefly, but at least I felt like a glimpsed a truth that has eluded me for a long time. We've been studying Galatians and Hebrews this year. In both books Paul is urging the new believers not to fall back into a reliance on ritual or law for their salvation. In Hebrews, he's talking to Jewish believers who are inclined to slip back into their traditional Judaic practices; in Galatians, he's talking to Gentile believers who are being influenced by Jewish believers coming into their midst, trying to convince them that in addition to faith in Christ, they also need to follow various traditional Jewish practices to obtain righteousness.
So the whole year we have been hammering away at the idea of our freedom in Christ, of not being bound by Old Testament law or religious rules and regulations that we as believers tend to impose on ourselves and others. At a certain level, I get it, of course. I get it. But when I try to work it out practically, I get completely lost.
I know my salvation comes from no place except Jesus Himself. No questions there. But in trying to live righteously, rather than living out that freedom in Christ and being motivated to do right by His love for me that fills my heart and my love for Him that swells in response to Him, I tend to fall back into rules and regulations. I impose them on myself, and then I fail. I try to work out my salvation in my flesh, and I fail.
I understand the concept -- I just don't quite know how to maintain that level of love-saturation continually that my thoughts and actions are consistently brought into line. (I know -- loads of people would say, "REGULAR QUIET TIMES!!!" Yeah. More rules and regulations. I've been down that road.)
But I am putting this down as my happy moment, because I have hope. I believe God will help me understand more fully as I pray and ask Him to shed more light.
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