Walking With Christ

2 Corinthians 3:5-6
(5)Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, )6)who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

The bible has a lot of places where this particular theme is repeated in slightly different ways to make sure that people understand.

If I were to say that four plus four equals one, the Pharisees of math would call that blasphemy because the laws of math state that four plus four equals eight. They would quickly reach for their calculators to stone me with.

Those who have a relationship with math would understand the “pair”able and know that I was talking about a pizza that was cut into eight pieces that when added together make one whole pizza. The fact that a six can be a nine depending on ones perspective and that and eight can become infinite just by looking at it from a different angle means that there is a lot more to math than just the basic “laws”. The same concept can be applied to a relationship with God. Just as the “Pharisees of Math” focusing on the rigid letter of the mathematical law caused them to miss the bigger picture, focusing on only the letter of the law of God can blind us to the Spirit that gives life. It’s like looking at a masterful painting and focusing exclusively on the technique used and not being able to see the beautiful picture, or listening to a fantastic piece of music and only noting the tempo changes.

A relationship with God can look very different from one person to the next. There are a lot of remarkable similarities that will only grow more obvious as these relationships deepen, but the plain truth is that we have no room to judge the ways that one person relates to God. We have to trust that His Holy Spirit will guide each of us to the same destination even if the paths are completely different. We share our testimonies so that others may find new understanding through them. We listen to other testimonials to gain understanding and encouragement from the walk that others are on. We celebrate each of these victories knowing that our understanding will never be complete in this life. A person could devote every living second to the study of a single aspect of His nature and still never come close to a complete understanding of even that single aspect, saying nothing about the many other aspects that are there to study.

The letter of the law can definitely be used as a course of study to better understand who God is. The problem that the Pharisees faced was that they began to congratulate themselves on their own ability to adhere to that law instead of seeking a relationship with the one who wrote it. That self-aggrandizement led them to shame and belittle others for their relationship. Pride found root through the religion of self in many a Pharisee heart. This blinded them so that they could see the letter of the law but not the hand that wrote it. Going back to the pizza analogy, by focusing on the numbers and laws around them the “Pharisees of math” would not be able to see the life giving beauty of the pizza. The Holy Spirit transforms and liberates us from mere rule-following and allows us to fully embrace the bread of eternal life in Jesus.

How can you cultivate a deeper relationship with God today? What areas of your life are focused on the ‘letter’ rather than the Spirit? Ask God to help you seek Him with your heart, not just through outward practices.