Which Law?

Which Law? 

For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Romans 8:6 KJV

The focus is on all who are IN Christ Jesus, not who know about him, or are related to him by birth or marriage, or who have heard a lot about him. Your location determines your allocation. Your  location will impact your walking. Am I walking in God or flexing outside of God? Does my walk reflect anything close to what God commands? If it does not, then maybe I have not really sorted out my location. Am I IN Him, or just content hearing about Him? Does He know me as His own, or is it just me laying claim to that which does not reckon with me? Who am I following after, God's law of life or Satan's law of death? 

Condemnation applies to all who are NOT IN Him. It doesn't matter how popular or connected you are; if you are not in Him, you are not of Him, and if you are not of Him, you cannot lay claim to all that He is and has or offers. All who are outside Him run the risk of eternal loss, because there is nothing in the law that can secure the life that Jesus offers. 

You don't get God's life just by the law; you get it by faith in Christ. It also means that all men alive, born of women, were under the old law, since we were all born under the limitations and weaknesses of the old law. The old law prescribed death as the result of its breach, but couldn't guarantee life for anyone as no one could meet God's righteous requirements under the old law, unless that person came under the operation of the new law. Anyone who would enjoy the life of God on offer had to seek God out, and seek out his law that could deliver from the law of sin and death. 

Both are more than just lifestyles; they are laws proceeding out of authorities and kingdoms, and with different eternal outcomes. The law of sin comes from the kindgom of the devil, whilst the law of the Spirit of life comes from the kingdom of God. Both laws bind; they are not negotiated outcomes but binding laws of a kingdom. It is the more powerful one that can set a man free from the less powerful one, and it is clear that one offers life while the other can only offer death, since each gives what it is and has. Armed with this truth, then comes the choice to be made: which one would/should I choose?

The law tried to lead men to life, but its greatest weakness was the flesh, tormented by sin. No matter how hard a man tried, he just couldn't live up to God's requirements. Man needed help with the inner strength required to fulfil God's requirements, and so God, using the template of man, sent us help. 

The help looked like us, walked on earth like us, followed the same principles of the law for dealing with sin, shed blood, his own blood, and so paid the full price, not just for present sin but for all sin, and for all time, thereby fulfilling all of the law and giving us the strength required to live in line with God's will. 

Imagine then the foolishness of trying to please God again by living according to the template of the old law. That old law had been found out to be incapable of bringing about God's purpose, and no man can by living by it, please God. It is not a wonder then how the extract ends. Your present pursuits and priorities are revealed by your mind and heart's focus. 

Who/What is at the heart of your present life's focus? You may be in the flesh as human beings, but are you also of the flesh, where the flesh dictates terms, conditions and pursuits for you? Being a good person, giving alms regularly, a philanthropist, a morally upright person, all outside of the Spirit of Life in Christ will never be enough; the Life of Christ was never meant to be earned. It is an outflow of a relationship with the king of that kingdom, and a submission to His authority and Lordship. So, what are you after? Note, it is not what you say to me or try to convince me about that matters, but what the King of kings knows to be true. He is the One with whom I have to deal in eternity, and I had better be sure I am under His authority. Eternity is too long a time not to be sure of where you will spend it. His time of favour is here.