Devotion
Freedom from the Law of Sin
Frances Taylor
What is this law of the Spirit of life in Christ? Jesus gave us the answer in his last discourse to the apostles during the Last Supper. His law is the law of love. When we obey this law, we don't need to worry about whether or not we are following the commandments. After all, is lying, cheating, stealing, loving? Are we showing love when we act out of anger, refuse to forgive – or ask for forgiveness? Is being prideful, acting out of prejudice, envy or greed, loving? Is neglecting God, having no respect for others or ourselves, loving? You get the picture. When we live lives guided by Jesus' law of love, we don't have to worry about anything else. We are free. God knew the weakness of humanity and gave us Jesus as the model of how human beings should live. When we act according to the "flesh" or pleasure, we can easily be led from temptation to sin. Living in the "spirit" means that we are making choices according to Jesus' law of love. It's not easy. There are times when we face choices where it seems impossible to know what the right thing to do is. The question we can ask ourselves is, "Which choice is the most loving?" Which is the choice Jesus would make? It is then that we need the guidance of the Spirit. We can pray, make our most loving choice, and know that God will not condemn us if we choose wrongly. Remember, Jesus was accused of breaking the law when he healed people on the Sabbath. Would God really have wanted someone to suffer unnecessarily because of the day of the week?
Prayer
Lord, I love you and try to live your law of love each day. Guide me through the difficult decisions that life brings me. Amen.
Night Prayer
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Inspiration
We despise the thought of a pile of dirty dishes in the sink. The outside is easy to clean; it's the caked-up residue on the inside that's so difficult to remove. Jesus compares the scribes and Pharisees with dishes that have been wiped clean on the outside while dirty inside. The Pharisees took exceptional care of their outward appearance and neglected their inward spirits. We are guilty of allowing our hearts to be left filthy as well. We look and act as we should while our souls are full of darkness. We must continue to converse with the Holy Spirit daily and trust His guidance to cleanse our sinful nature.
Prayer
Dear God, Please forgive our sinful nature. We yearn for cleansing from within, so we are genuine witnesses to Your name. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
