Released to Bear Fruit

Once again God has brought me to what He wants me to learn.

“⁴Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. ⁵For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. ⁶But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” – Romans 7:4-6 (ESV)

A pretty long passage here, but needed to gain the full effect of what God intended for me. You see, we as Christians, are no longer held to the written law to keep us doing the right things. We are now held to a higher standard as set by Christ with His death on the cross for our salvation. The written law is for those that have no moral compass or greater good or something better to live and strive for. Now that we are striving to be like Christ each and every day, we don’t “need” the law to “keep us in line”.

I remember the movie from a few years ago, “The Benchwarmers”. I know, where are you going with this one. Well, the movie was about bullying. Toward the end of the movie, one of the characters made it a point to apologize (many years later) to someone that he had bullied when they were younger. The apology was genuine and accepted. This single instance of goodness was the driving force for the recipient to accept who he was and declare to others to accept who they were as well. The movie ends with all, the bullies and those that were the recipients of the bullying, playing a game together in friendship and fun.

A lot of information to get to this point. The character that apologized did the right thing, even though the law did not “require” it. As a Christian, we are to live a life striving to be like Christ. We are to accept the responsibility of living according to the example of Christ and when we do, we do not “need” the law to “keep us in line”.

Where are you as it stands in relation to the law? Are you dependent on the written law to “keep you in line”? Are you released from the written law by your actions that demonstrate Christ?