The Tyranny of "Ought To"

God's children ever desire to prove themselves in ways He has not asked, and the proving weakens them for the battles He would have them to fight.  It is common to achieve clean closets while leaving the issues of a dirty heart unaddressed.  

You suffer guilt from your disobedience to the Lord, but your resentment (rebellion's slightly less toxic cousin) prevents you from submitting to His will.  And so you place a rule of your own over your head which becomes a law you cannot keep, the law of "ought to."   I ought to...clean the garage, organize my finances,  lose weight... The tyranny of the "ought to's" will rule your life apart from the obedience that will allow you to abide in the Lord's grace.  

Scripture: "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1). 

Dieting and Legalism

You are being strengthened toward the only diet plan that will truly work for you, and that is moment by moment abiding and moment by moment obedience.  You don’t have to discipline yourself; your challenge is not one of self-discipline.  It is nearly the opposite; it is a challenge of falling back into the Lord's arms, a release of your will into His hands.  You do not have to tame your will, you need to release it.  Release your right to yourself; practice releasing your right to yourself, and watch and see what God will do.   

 If the Lord were to allow you permanent success through your own efforts, you would acquire the inaccurate belief that your liberation arrived because you followed your own rule (or that of a diet plan).  With that belief would come judgment toward those who do not also follow your rule.  This is the tyranny of legalism, which enslaves not only those who believe in it but also everyone who has the misfortune to come into contact with that person.  Pity the one who is loved by a person who suffers the sin of legalism. 

The way to be truly thankful for the food you eat is to stop taking for yourself and start receiving from God's hand.   

Take the Grace Path

The Lord is always with you.  You will never be able to obey so perfectly that your path to Him is cleared by obedience.  It will always be grace that clears the path before you by the blood of Christ.  Do not try to approach Him in any other way.  It is not when you fail to obey that you become discontent and frustrated, it is when you try to gain access to God by any path other than grace.  Take the grace path and all will be well.  

Scripture:  "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—" (Ephesians 2:8). 

The Power of God's Love

Since the beginning of time creation has been pulled toward sin and decay.  Jesus came from Heaven to interrupt this inexorable, irresistible, inevitable power that came against God's most precious and beloved heart of hearts; humankind.  The power that sent Him was love: steadfast, unalterable, powerful, love. 

“This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4, KJV).  Place your faith in the love (God IS love, remember) that had the power to overcome the power of Hell.  Whether you believe or not, God’s love will win out, has won out.  But you will save yourself and those you love much suffering (between now and the end of time) if you will flow with His love now. 

The ones who cause you pain are victims of sin.  Victims are to be pitied and released, not condemned.  “Don’t blame the victim.” 

Release them by loving them. 

Pray for them and refrain from casting blame upon them. Defend them from the judgment of others if need be.  Trust the Lord to work in their minds and hearts, to reshape memories, to help them to see clearly.  Love precedes liberation.  Love is the key that opens the jail cell door. 

Scripture:  "God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.  In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother" (1 John 4:15-21)

Come Unto Me

Open your heart and mind to the Lord!

You will gain nothing by grappling with your problems apart from the enlightenment that only the Holy Spirit can bring, and the Holy Spirit is not stirred up within you by struggle, but by praise.

Don’t be afraid of your pain. If death were as close as you fear, there would be no need to store sustenance for the winter to come. Your strength and help come from the Lord; abide in Him. Let your roots run so deeply that you are able to withstand cold, storms, or drought.

The Lord will exchange your weariness for strength; come unto Him!

Scripture: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

How to Think About Death

Sometimes those who are the most spiritually perceptive are the most prone to fear. You see and sense spiritual truths you cannot completely understand, and apart from a steadfast focus upon the Lord, you fall to fear.

Let go your fear of death. As Jesus told the thief, “Today you will be with me in Paradise,” so the Lord tells you, “You’ll only pass through shadow, and into light again.”

Death is a passageway. Stop thinking of death as a different level of consciousness; it is like walking through a door. You will still be aware, you will still be you. Death is not like anesthesia. There is nothing of paralysis, constriction, or altered consciousness about death. Almost the opposite is true, death is a freeing process that delivers you to new life.

Death is somewhat like falling asleep, but for the Christian, death does not entrap, it releases. The distorted awareness and paralysis of anesthesia are responsible for the fears you harbor now. Let go this misconception that death is like anesthesia. It is not.

The Valley of the Shadow is a passageway to be traversed, not a place to set up camp. God's children do not linger in the valley. In the same way that a baby being born is pushed down the birth canal and then delivered, death is only the passageway between this world and the next; and the Lord is with you. Dying is sometimes as simple as stepping across a threshold.

Do not be afraid.

Scripture: "Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death" Hebrews 2:14-15

What You Can Change

You can’t correct what is wrong in anyone but yourself, and even that project requires the Almighty God’s help! You could do a fairly accurate analysis of what is amiss in those you love, but what is the point? You do not have the tools to put to rights what is wrong. It is much more expedient for you to pray for them and to yield to the Lord's correcting influence in your own life. Your example and your prayers will combine to create the most powerful force for change that is possible for one human being to exert over another, because you will not be exerting force at all; but will become a cleaner vessel through which the Holy Spirit's powerful influence can flow.

Scripture: "Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you've got it in you, get along with everybody. Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. 'I'll do the judging,' says God. 'I'll take care of it'" (Romans 12:17-19, the Message).