Sunday, July 11, 2010

GIG 249 - If It's Not About Morality and Religion, Then What?

As we talked about last week, life was never meant to be lived according to what some have called the "religion tree" or the "morality tree" (the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil).  But if people think life in Christ is based in any way on their morality or performance, they end up resorting back to religion - to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  They know no other way to live, than according to their own knowledge of good and evil.

But if life in Christ is not about morality and religion, then what is it about?  If it's not about our own pursuit of right and wrong, then how do we know how to live?  It involves getting away from the religion and morality tree, and in many ways it begins with understanding our new identity in Christ.  We're not trying to become something by maintaining a certain level of performance or morality.  Rather, God has already made us righteous and He's already given us a brand new identity that He is already fully pleased with and that He fully accepts!  So rather than "doing" in order to try to become what we think God wants us to be, we are meant to rest and relax in who He has already made us to be, and to live from our new identity.

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4 comments:

  1. Hi Joel,

    Great post and I appreciate you hitting on the concept of understanding our identity in Christ. It really reminds me of the book "Victory Over the Darkness" by Neil Anderson which focuses on that as the first key to living victoriously. If Satan can get us to doubt our salvation, or think that it's up to us to keep it up, we're headed for trouble!

    Titus2homemaker
    http://oilofhisgrace.blogspot.com/

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  2. Yep, great stuff Titus2homemaker! That's a great book from Anderson. I've used various quotes and illustrations from it.

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