I’m sitting here in front of the computer, and I wonder, ‘What am I doing with my life?’ My desire is to serve the Lord, but I sometimes look back on the day and I’m amazed at how much time went by without me accomplishing anything.

I know that this is dangerous territory, because on one hand I can strive to justify myself by my works, but on the other hand I can sit back and do absolutely nothing, justifying my idleness by saying, ‘I must wait until I have a clear purpose in my heart before acting, otherwise my works are dead’.

I often take one of these mindsets and make it a rule in my life. However, I don’t realize that by doing this I have fallen from grace! I am seeking to be justified by law, and I have been severed from Christ!

In his epistle to the Galatians, the apostle Paul expresses how grieved he is that the church has turned away from the gospel that they first received. The gospel they heard from the apostles was the true gospel of Jesus Christ. It spoke to their hearts of true freedom… a freedom that is beyond rules and regulations. After this salvation, there is no more need to live according to the law, as God Himself writes His law on the tablets of our hearts.

When we take a rule or a regulation and start to apply it to our lives, we must realise that we are doing this because we lack faith. As Christians we have two options… we either live by faith, or we live by law… there is no gray area.

So where does this leave us? What do we DO as Christians? I think that because I am asking this question, I have already missed the mark. It’s not, can I do, but rather, Who can I worship. Note what Paul writes to the Romans in chapter 7:24. His question is not, or How?, but rather he asks Who?’ He understands that there is only One who can set him free from his flesh.
This freedom does not come through our own efforts and good intentions, but through the work that Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross. I know that when I am aware of this, and I have a true gratefulness in my heart for what the Lord has done, I submit to His righteousness, and I don’t even consider what I wrote in the first paragraph. My works are a natural overflow of what the Lord is doing in my heart. This is a life in the Spirit! I pray that the Lord will open our eyes and set us free.