I did it my way

There is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day.

Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?

It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cut throat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits;

The vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on. ….. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom.

But there’s more:
God’s Message: "Cursed is the strong one who depends on mere humans, Who thinks he can make it on muscle alone and sets God aside as dead weight.
He’s like a tumble weed on the prairie, out of touch with the good earth. He lives rootless and aimless in a land where nothing grows.

“But blessed is the man who trusts me, God, the woman who sticks with God.
They’re like trees replanted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers – Never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf, Serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit every season.
“The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be.”

Like a cow bird that cheats by laying its eggs in another bird’s nest Is the person who gets rich by cheating. When the eggs hatch, the deceit is exposed. What a fool he’ll look like then!

From early on your Sanctuary was set high, a throne of glory, exalted! O God, you’re the hope of Israel. All who leave you end up as fools, Deserters with nothing to show for their lives, who walk off from God, fountain of living waters – and wind up dead!

God, pick up the pieces. Put me back together again. You are my praise! Jeremiah 17:5-14

But what happens when we live God’s way?

He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard – things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity.

We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people.

We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way.

Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good – crucified.

Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives.

That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original….
Click on this link to read it for yourself > Galatians 5:16-26 Message Bible

In the Old Covenant you were blessed if you kept the right sacrifice from the blood of animals. In the New Covenant you are blessed by Jesus’ perfect sacrifice of His blood. Are you striving to be perfect or seeking revelation of what Jesus has done for you? One leads to behaviour modification that will exhaust you; the other leads to transformation that will amaze you.

What can wash away my sin – nothing but the blood of Jesus!

Please share this message and do your part to help advance the Kingdom of Heaven!

© Copyright 2012 Elaine Costin All Rights Reserved
While everything The Holy Spirit inspires me to write is under full copyright protection, the only purpose is to make sure people copy it right. As long as you always clearly reference it as my work including my copyright statement at the bottom, keep it in its entirety without editing of any kind and link it to https://www.capturingsunrise.com/blog as the source, you have my permission to copy, print, and distribute my writings freely, as long as it is not for profit. If you wish to use my writings in a profit making capacity then permission must be granted by the author.