Dropped calls. I put “dropped calls on iPhone 3Gs” in Google search and got 153,000 results! Apparently, lots of people do not like dropped calls. Being in the middle of a conversation and then loosing the connection is very frustrating. Thankfully, I haven’t had the same experience a lot of other iPhone users have had. Not many lost connections.
I’m writing from a hotel room in San Leandro this week, and the high-speed internet is free. Once again, not feeling at a loss for connection.
In today’s text, Paul makes reference to some who have lost connection with the Lord. They are described as people who have an “unspiritual” spirituality. Religiosity, or legalism, would be another way of saying it. Human philosophies and man-made spiritualities tend to be characterized by rules lists. Do this, and don’t do that. We can hyper-intellectualize our rationale for such lists, or hyper-spiritualize them by saying we got them through many days of fasting and conversing with angels, but they are still just laundry lists.
The greatest of all spiritual codes is the Law of Moses as given by God. But even that list has its limits. It reveals the priority of God for holiness and it convicts us of our unrighteousness, but it was never meant to save us. We are saved by a personal relationship with God, forged by grace through faith in Jesus, who satisfied the law and atoned for our lawlessness on the cross. The text says, “He took it away, nailing it to the cross.” Careful reading shows that the antecedent for the pronoun, “it,” is not our sin; “it” is the written code. Jesus crucified legalism and religiosity at Calvary.
Paul says not to let anyone judge you by comparing your behavior to their own “spiritual to-do and to-don’t list.” These are the ones who will puff themselves up with their ‘holy arrogance.’ These are the ones Paul says have “lost connection with the Head,” which is Christ. Legalisms don’t liberate us, they condemn us. True spirituality, sincere holiness, comes from being connected to Christ; living in Him and Him living in us as yesterday’s text taught us. We still maintain our emphasis on pure living. We just don’t go at it via conformity to somebody’s idea of a “holylist.” A list that can fool us sometimes because it has “an appearance of wisdom.” The problem is, as Scripture says here, that approach has no positive effect.
Law makes our sin nature undeniably clear. It reveals our spiritual deadness. God makes us alive in Christ; forgiving us all our sin! So, when religiosity beckons, I don’t mind dropping that call. But my Savior? I don’t ever want to lose THAT connection!
Pray: Holy God, liberating Lord, thank you that I can be connected to you in my heart and soul through your indwelling Spirit. Purify me through this intimate relationship. Help me not to judge or be judged by a “perfect Christian behaviors list.” We are but humble sinners saved by grace.
You've done it again...another excellent post. Such a hard balance to find between religiosity and holiness though. One can throw out all of the lists and be left floundering a bit. I suspect that is why we are wont to cling to them. It really is much harder without the lists, but I think, much richer!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely; lists or loosey-goosey are both easier than actually living every moment in contact with the Holy One, pressing to hear Him and obey.
ReplyDelete