Full life in the Spirit (Part 1)
Faustino de Jesús Zamora Vargas
SUMMARY: The only law decreed in the gospel is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The flesh is antagonistic to the Spirit, and Christians must be aware of the power of the Spirit within them to live a full life in Christ. Religious norms cannot produce what God wants from us, but the Spirit can bear fruit for eternal life. The tensions between the flesh and the Spirit will never cease, but Christians must focus on walking in the Spirit to live a full life in Christ.
The only 'decreed' law in the entire gospel resolved by the authority of the Lord is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. But often the same problem emerges: our human condition, carnality that at times disguises itself as sanctity and allows itself to take certain liberties that no longer concern it. The flesh is totally antagonistic to the Spirit. “The Spirit is the one who gives life; the flesh profits nothing… ”(John 6.63).
Nothing sadder than to see a Christian who ignores the power that God has granted him through the Spirit, brothers with a certain vocation to look back and resurrect the old man of a corrupt nature that Christ transferred from the darkness to his admirable light. In such a way, they do not know how to enjoy a full life in Christ, simply because they are not aware that the Lord has placed his Spirit within them to give witness to a new life.
No work, no matter how good, can produce what God wants from us, but his Spirit, who bears fruit for eternal life. Religious norms overwhelm us, but the Spirit encourages us and makes us winners in a world where the majority are lost - in their crimes and sins. The two laws cannot coexist, they repel each other, they are mutually exclusive. Either the law of sin and death, or the law of the Spirit (of life in Christ). It is the Spirit of life in Christ that produces the fullness of life, the feeling of full life, the spiritual fullness of which the Scriptures speak, it is the law of my new self that gives me an amazing freedom to walk in victory even in means of difficulties.
The tensions that prevent the feeling of a life in the Spirit will never cease because the enemy will try to make us believe that we are still “filthy rags”, condemned to a slavery that we cannot overcome. But the Word is clear and concise: "For you have not received a spirit of slavery to return again to fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons, by which we cry out: Abba, Father!" (Ro 8.15).
The full life is lived under the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The key lies in being aware that the Lord has given us the ability to walk according to the Spirit and cast off the flesh of sinful clothing. When the Christian focuses his life on walking in the Spirit, the feelings of faith, hope and love become visible and the flesh (blood relative of the devil) takes one more step towards its total destruction. Let's not try to Christianize the flesh because we are going to wear ourselves out in the attempt; rather, let us walk in the Spirit to live Christ in all his fullness.
God bless you!
Nothing sadder than to see a Christian who ignores the power that God has granted him through the Spirit, brothers with a certain vocation to look back and resurrect the old man of a corrupt nature that Christ transferred from the darkness to his admirable light. In such a way, they do not know how to enjoy a full life in Christ, simply because they are not aware that the Lord has placed his Spirit within them to give witness to a new life.
No work, no matter how good, can produce what God wants from us, but his Spirit, who bears fruit for eternal life. Religious norms overwhelm us, but the Spirit encourages us and makes us winners in a world where the majority are lost - in their crimes and sins. The two laws cannot coexist, they repel each other, they are mutually exclusive. Either the law of sin and death, or the law of the Spirit (of life in Christ). It is the Spirit of life in Christ that produces the fullness of life, the feeling of full life, the spiritual fullness of which the Scriptures speak, it is the law of my new self that gives me an amazing freedom to walk in victory even in means of difficulties.
The tensions that prevent the feeling of a life in the Spirit will never cease because the enemy will try to make us believe that we are still “filthy rags”, condemned to a slavery that we cannot overcome. But the Word is clear and concise: "For you have not received a spirit of slavery to return again to fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons, by which we cry out: Abba, Father!" (Ro 8.15).
The full life is lived under the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The key lies in being aware that the Lord has given us the ability to walk according to the Spirit and cast off the flesh of sinful clothing. When the Christian focuses his life on walking in the Spirit, the feelings of faith, hope and love become visible and the flesh (blood relative of the devil) takes one more step towards its total destruction. Let's not try to Christianize the flesh because we are going to wear ourselves out in the attempt; rather, let us walk in the Spirit to live Christ in all his fullness.
God bless you!
