THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IS NOT ABOUT KEEPING RULES.

When God was walking on earth in bodily form, the self righteous who were zealous   without knowledge and were preoccupied with keeping rules  as the work of God asked Him, "What must we do, that we may work the works of God"?  And He said  unto them, this is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. (John:6:29).

Clear, short and simply answer from the created of heaven and earth but the  self righteous were not OK with the answer he gave them. They can't just get it. They natural minds can't comprehend it that believing is the work of God. They are more interested  in trying than trusting. They can't get it that believing is the work of God because the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged. (1 Cor:2:14).

These are exactly the picture of what Christianity looks like for many believers today. But this picture is a caricature of New Testament Christianity. It is a powerless, faithless counterfeit that seduces because it appeals to human wisdom even as it denies the finished work of the cross. To live this way is to exalt the flesh and insult the Spirit of grace.

These attitudes also describe what it means to live under self-imposed law. If you live like this you are in danger of setting aside grace.

Now, before you get angry and strike the comment button below, let me give you the best description of the Christian life I know:

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Gal 2:20).

Right up there is what the Christian life is. If that doesn't go well with, then I need your answer to the following questions: What does it mean to be crucified with Christ? what does it mean to live by the faith of the Son of God?

Its obvious you might have a flesh problem. Instead of living by the Spirit, you may be trying to please God with your own resources and understanding. Keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll eventually fall flat on your face. You’ll end up worn out, burned out, and fruitless.

Understand that Jesus Christ will do more through us than we could ever do for Him . So renew your mind and stop asking carnal question like what must I do to be saved? (Acts:16:30)

Stop trying to make things happen for God, and let Him live His supernatural life through you. God won’t bless the works of your flesh. Rather, He will allow us to come to the end of our self-sufficiency so that we might learn to rest in Him.

He is the vine and you are the branch. Apart from Him you can do quite a lot, but none of it will last. So quit trying and start trusting.

The Christianity is not a set of rules or values or expectations; it is Christ expressing Himself through you. 2016 years ago Jesus walked the earth in a human body. Today He still has a body – it’s His church! – and He wants to reveal Himself to this broking and violent world, the sick and the dying  through that body. But that cannot happen when those in the church are on a flesh-trip preoccupied with self-effort.

Jesus doesn’t want your service; He wants you! Your job is not to produce fruit, but to bear His fruit. To the degree that we are walking in self-sufficiency, to that degree we are walking in the flesh.

Before I understood that Christ is my life, my whole lifestyle was characterized by an obsession with right and wrong. Yet, if one is not abiding in Christ, every action is wrong . To abide in Him is to walk in faith; to fail to abide in Christ is to walk after the flesh. Anytime we do things on our own, it is sin, regardless of how our actions may appear.

When you try to do the right thing you invariably end up doing the wrong thing. A preoccupation with right and wrong means you’re living under law. You’re eating from the wrong tree. What you’re doing may be outwardly “good,” but it’ll produce death instead of life. And worse, there will be no end to it for the law will never say “enough.”

Christianity is not about doing staffs for God, it's about knowing him and resting in Him to do greater works through you. So stop struggling and rest!

Shalom.