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- Apr 25, 2006
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Rules or relationship?
'...I will put my laws in their hearts...' Hebrews 10:16
Take a survey in the street and you will not find anyone who likes being called a dog. Yes, you might find plenty of pooch lovers but they won't appreciate you saying they might be a bit canine themselves! One of the amazing things about dogs is that they can understand human language; but only in a very limited way: Sit! Fetch! Heel! So if we're so much smarter than Rover and Fido why do so many of us have that sort of Christian life? Following Jesus gets reduced to: 'Stop that; come back here; don't do that,' and don't forget the classics: 'Read your Bible; pray; go to church; pay your tithes; witness.'
Now, this is all stuff we should be doing, but God never meant us to do them at the end of a lead! Let's listen to what the Bible says on the matter: 'But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. (Rom 7:6 NIV) and repeats this again elsewhere saying: '...I will put my laws in their hearts...' (Heb 10:16 NIV). The point is quite clear: living life as a Christian is about changing first on the inside, the heart, so that works its way outside in your behaviour. Trying to keep to an external system of rules is a dog's life!
written by Bob Gass
