“I have the right to do anything, you say – but not everything is beneficial. I have the right to do anything – but not everything is constructive.” (1 Corinthians 10:23 NIV)
“But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33 NKJV)
“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” (Galatians 5:22-23)
When I finished yesterday’s post the Spirit “nudged” me to put our journey toward life on hold for a moment in order to learn a few lessons from the past. So often we rush through life repeating mistakes over and over again simply because we don’t slow down long enough to learn from what we have gone through. So here we go…
Much of the pain I have experienced in life has been self inflicted due to my desire to live as close to the edge as possible without falling off. I don’t know how many times I knew in my heart that the direction I was heading in was going to end in a bad place but I would “self talk” myself into trouble with thoughts like, “as long as I’m not hurting anyone else it”s no big deal,” or “something that feels this good can’t really be bad.” When I was in a “spiritual” mood I would think thoughts like “I don’t live under the law,” or “the Bible doesn’t say I can’t do this,” or worse yet, “I’ll still go to heaven.” The trouble with my flawed thinking was that what started out as “no big deal” would almost always end up in a place where I never wanted to go creating pain and problems that I never wanted to live through.
The Apostle Paul made it clear that we have the freedom in Christ to do just about anything we want, but that much of what we are free to do brings no real benefit to our lives. His perspective brings balance to our lives as it keeps us on the road and out of the ditches. On one side of the road is the ditch of “Legalism.” This is a life of rules which strips us of the joy that the Lord intended for us to experience as we live under the constant condemnation of failing to live up to our self imposed expectations. The law was given to point out just how sinful we are and how miserably we will fail every time we try to live “good” lives on our own. On the other side of the road is the ditch is “Grace Abuse.” This becomes a self seeking abuse of freedom which elevates my selfish desire for pleasure above the desires of the Lord and those around me. Paul wanted above all else to honor His Lord (Jesus) and serve those around him. He was willing to set aside his own freedoms in order to be of the greatest benefit to those his life touched. He, like Jesus, modeled a life that was overflowing with joy as the result of choosing to prioritize what matters most in his life: Jesus, others, and making this world a better place to live in (“Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven).
For years I lived trying to find out what I “can” do instead of what I “should” do. I really thought that the “world” had all the fun and freedom and that those who were “Christians” sacrificed all the fun for the sake of making sure they go to Heaven one day. I now know my goal is not to go to Heaven some day, but to bring Heaven into my life today. Things like he joy of the Lord, the peace that passes all understanding, and abundant life, are mine today and manifest in my life without limit as I “seek first the Kingdom.” Do you want a life that blows away anything that you have had before? Then I challenge you to consider…
Eric’s Life Lesson #1: “Just ’cause ya can doesn’t mean ya should.”