Day 48 - Galatians

What are the rules for Christian living?  That's what we all want to know.  What can I do?  What can I get away with?  Isn't Jesus just trying to get me to follow what He wants?  "Christianity is just a bunch of regulations."  "My pastor just doesn't want me to have any fun."  How close is the line between right and wrong...sin and obedience?

The truth is...there are no rules.  Following Jesus and being a Christian, in fact, are all about NOT having rules.  The earliest Christians struggled with this concept because they came out of a Jewish context which related obedience to following Hebrew Law.  Jesus came as the fulfillment of the law, and if you followed Him, there was no need any longer for all the regulations.  So, does that mean we get to do whatever we want as long as we say we love Jesus?  Paul answered that question elegantly in Galatians 5:16-25:

"16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.



19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.


22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."

There is one rule.  Live by the Spirit.  When we become followers of Christ, we are no longer 'worldly' people.  We do not operate under the law of the flesh; rather, we are ruled by the Spirit of God living in us.  Therefore, we act, move and make decisions according to the spirit.  And when we do, we'll want to do things God's way, and instead of actions motivated by our own desires, we'll begin to see God's fruit in our lives:  love, joy, peace, patience, and on and on.

This living by the Spirit is more fluid than rules and regulations.  It takes more discernment on our part.  It means different things in different circumstances.  To act in love might me something entirely different in different environments.  It puts more thought in the process for us.  But, this is the best life.  In this life there is fullness and sweet fruit, not the emptiness and despair that living by our 'sinful nature' inevitably leads to.  It turns out there isn't  a bunch of rules to Christianity, just one big promise that if we live by the Spirit we will experience and abundance that we had never known.  Let us be people in the world, but of the Spirit.