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7/21/2009 - Just Stop, Will You? Romans 7:6
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Just Stop, Will YOu?
REFERENCE: Romans 7:6 But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.
Observation: Why do we serve God? Is it because we are afraid that if we don’t God won’t love us, or love us less? It is a lesson we have, unfortunately, learned all too well in this world. People relate to us according to what we do for them. They love us if we have done something for them, today. They disregard us if we don’t.
Learning to live in the Spirit is discovering how to unlearn this lesson, at least as it relates to our relationship with God. He wants us to serve Him out of the joy and freedom of knowing how truly accepted and loved we are by Him. We serve because we love Him. We love Him because He first loved us. What a better way to live than to keep trying, and failing, to serve a standard that is unreachable. God wants us to serve out of relationship not obligation. In doing so is true joy and fulfillment and it is so much more natural and easy; "my yoke is easy and my burden is light".
Application/Confession: I have been all too schooled in obligation - doing what I must because I must. It is the way I think and instinctively live. I am learning to exist in grace but it is a new way of thinking and acting. I am so thankful that God is teaching me, day by day, not to try to work for His love but out of my joy in being loved.
PRAYER: Dear God, show my weary heart how loved I really am in You. Sometimes I feel like no one understands how hard I work or try. I know that You are trying to pry me off the treadmill. Convince me by Your love that it is safe to stop running and start resting in You.
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