ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE DAY

Are You Bearing Fruit or Following Rules?

Romans 7:4b

...in order that we might bear fruit to God.

A few mornings ago my 9 year old daughter Amanda and I were having breakfast and discussing this section of Romans in which Paul deals with our death to the Law. It's kind of a difficult concept for most adults -- and so much more so for children. We talked about how tough it is to always do the right thing, to follow all the rules, and never break any. After a while she said to me: "Dad let's have a challenge. Let's see who can go the longest without sinning -- the winner gets to eat as much cake as they want." I agreed to the challenge but changed the prize to one piece of chocolate cake.

A few hours into the challenge, Amanda and I were on the driveway when her mother called to her: "Amanda, come back inside. I told you -- you can't play outside until your room is clean." When Amanda returned, I said: "You lost the challenge." She replied: "I did not. How is not cleaning my room a sin?" I answered: "It's not, but one of the Ten Commandments is to honor your father and your mother. Did you honor your mother when you ignored her?" Amanda thought about it for a minute then said: "Those commandments are tricky!" I couldn't agree more.

Up until that particular moment, Amanda and I had spent a considerable amount of time making, discussing, and negotiating rules -- in other words -- what would be a sin and what was not. We really tried to stay inside the lines of righteous living. However, we were doomed to failure from the start. Later that afternoon I asked Amanda: "This morning -- after all of our trying to not sin -- how much glory to God did we bring?" She thought for a moment, and then answered: "None." I asked: "Did we do anything good? Did we help anyone?" Her response: "No, all we did was try to follow rules."

In our passage today, the point Paul makes to us is very much the same: When Christ was crucified, our sin and the Law died with Him. We are free from its bondage; the burden has been lifted "...in order that we might bear fruit to God." Here's how it works: If our focus is on following rules then it's hard to recognize God's love and incredible sacrifice for us. When we change our orientation from what we must do for God to what God did for us, our response becomes an expression of His love, and that is "bear fruit to God". (1 John 4:19: "We love because He first loved us.")

What is your response to God's act of love? Is it to make rules for godly living? Do your rules cheapen Christ's sacrifice? What fruit are you bearing? Is it lush and bountiful or dry and sparse? Are you trying to become righteous by living under the burden of rules? What is God's will in this matter?

POCKETPOWER.ORG