I can do what I wish!

Friday 7-17-15 (Home, Modesto, California)

Scripture reading:    Isaiah 29-31    James 1

S=Scripture O=Observation A=Application P=Prayer  SOAP for the soul.

S.  James 1:25  if you keep looking steadily into God's perfect law — the law that sets you free — and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. NLT

O.  The Apostle Paul shows us the bondage created by the Old Covenant Law.  Now James, the half brother of Jesus, speaks of another law, God’s perfect law.  He calls it “the law that sets you free.”  Other translations call it the “law of liberty.”  On the surface this sounds like an oxymoron.  Yet when we subject ourselves to this law, we find true freedom.

A.  Heavy laws can stifle us.  We are told we cannot do this… and we must not do that.  These laws actually seem to push us and our children toward rebellion. 

A member of a team that recently visited a church in another country expressed that she found them bound under a set of rigid laws of dress and conduct.  My experience with churches that attempt to control their people in this manner may prosper for a time, but within one generation are almost certainly destined to weaken and begin to fade away.  God is not offering us a set of rigid rules, but spiritual guidelines to lead us into His true freedom.  His “Law of Liberty.”

P.  Lord Jesus, Your standards are much higher than those of Moses… or mine.  You deal with the heart of the issue.  You do not beat me over the head with a set of rules.  Rather you tug at my heart with Your tender love.  Your love conquers me.  And now my love for You makes me seek a higher level of living.  When I focused on a list of don’ts, I was always trying to get as close to breaking the rules as possible without really breaking them.  But when I fell in love with You, I began to seek to be as close to Your perfect holiness as I could.  You carried me into Your wonderful liberty… freedom to do as I “wish”… because my new “wish” was only to please my Master, my Lover and my King.  Amen.

Ralph