Just A Few Words

Of encouragement...just a few good words go a long way don't they?
They are the words that make you stop and think for a moment, and utter an, "ooohhh!" As something resonates deep within us.
I love it when that happens.
Usually it comes when I am looking for something else, and wham! A phrase, a verse, a truth with hit me, and I will suddenly receive a little tid-bit that helps connect some dots.
Take this verse that came alive for me the other night:
"The sting of death is SIN, and the power of sin is the LAW." 1 Cor. 15:56
 I've of course read the verse about "where o death is your sting, " a hundred times, but this verse? Verse 56? To my knowledge it has never stood out to me, until the other night. Why is the verse such a stand out? Let me tell you why!
What gives death a sting? Sin. Dying in our sin, makes death hurt, and turn it into something you probably fear, and will never be able to think on with peace. With SIN still being our master, death will always sting.
The next part of that verse, where does sin get it's power? The Law. What's wrong with the law you ask? Laws are good! David wrote in Psalm 119: 7 " I will praise you with and upright heart as I learn you righteous laws, I will obey your decrees!" 
And yes, the law of the Lord gives life, but the law kills when the law is our ticket to salvation....the law fails when it's our Savior. The law cannot save, because no-one under the sun can live by the law perfectly, and never fail not even once. No one is that perfect but Jesus.
That is why the law kills.
"Because through Jesus Christ, the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offerings, and so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met." - Romans 8:2-4

The law that was created initially to help us live more righteous lives, however, also revealed our deepest need. A need for someone who could meet the requirements of the law once and for all.

Let us put this in modern day terms though! I am constantly reminding myself that I am not held captive to a law that I will never be able to meet. A standard that I will never achieve on my own. God set a perfect standard for us because He wanted us to trust in someone other than ourselves. He knew that we would need a way out of our own inability to not be perfect.
I keep trying to be perfect. It's my own personal battle. I always want everything to be perfect. I never want to "fail God." But I needed Him from the moment I entered this world, just a crying little babe...I needed His redemption.
But take away my need to live by the law in my own perfection, and the law loses it's power over me. Satan loves to hang "the law" over our heads. Especially as women I know we feel this desire to do well in the home, work, with the kids and everything in between, and if we screw up, don't we sort of feel that God is shaking His finger at us? Well, define "Screwing up..." God never used that term in the Word, and He does not use those words to describe those who are wrapped up in the forgiveness of Christ. He knew we would not always do things perfectly. That's why He gave us Jesus. SO the next time you want to write "FAILURE"  on your for-head, think again, instead you should write, "CHOSEN BY GOD. FORGIVEN AND FREE." It's time we as women (and men, but I write mostly to women) start living free. God gave us freedom so we could walk in it. He abolished the law of slavery that sin had over us, the tightly gripped talons of sin and death lost their hold us when we said "Yes" to Jesus. We took on a whole new identity. We as women live in bondage even though we are free. And the enemy loves it.  We let the law of sin and death continue to rule over us and push us down with heavy burdens of perfection and performance that we desperately pray will meet His expectations. Well I have news for you sister, and it's this, that  expectation that we keep trying to meet, has already been met, anything you try to add to it, is null and void. God already gave the perfect sacrifice that paid all our debts, past present and future. I for one, need to hear this again and again. I wish I didn't but I keep forgetting! And I keep putting the yoke of slavery to sin on my shoulder. I'm free to live in freedom. Freedom to say NO to sin. Freedom to live in victory without guilt hanging over my head. Freedom to say yes to Joy, and NO to constant self- beating sessions. I think that if I sit in self- wrecking for a bit longer I will somehow pay the debt for all my failures. Well sin and death, I have news for you. I'm free. And so is anyone who places their trust in the name of Jesus. Thanks be to God for this indescribable gift. 

Sin's power over your head is demolished when we realize  and confess with our mouths that the law has no hold on us. We now start to do good things because we know it's pleasing to the Father, and because being a slave to righteousness begins to make us more fulfilled, and peace filled.
It's the backwards upside-down Kingdom thinking that only makes sense when you dive in all the way. I pray that these words bring healing to your sick-and-tired-of-striving to be perfect soul.
I know it does for me. No amount of striving on my part will bring me an ounce more freedom. The only ONE who brings me freedom is Christ.
"You my brothers were called to be free." Galations 5:13
"But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." - Galations 5:18

"IT IS FOR FREEDOM THAT CHRIST HAS SET YOU FREE, STAND FIRM AND DO NOT LET YOURSELVES BE BURDENED AGAIN BY A YOKE OF SLAVERY." - Galations 5:1