Monday, January 17, 2005

No Rules, Just His Rightness

(with thanks to Outback, from whom I have adapted this title)
Beloved, I prayer that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. (3 John 2).
God wants us to prosper in all things and be in health. That is His will and desire for you and me. Even more than that, He wants us to have prosperity in our souls, for that is how all other prosperity comes forth.

Some people look at “just as your soul prospers” and think, “Aha. Rules !” But that is not at all what God is talking about here. Prosperity of soul is not about keeping rules and tallying points to see if you can somehow be good enough to merit.

Forget rules, forget merit, forget trying to earn something from God — you’ll never make it. You can never tick off enough accomplishments, never perform enough maneuvers, never change yourself enough to earn true prosperity.

As in all things in the Christian life, so it is with soul prosperity: Its not about you, its about Him. No rules, just right. But it is not about your rightness, it is about His. It is not about your life flowing through you, it is about His.

The Apostle Paul said, “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 in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Soul prosperity is not about keeping rules, or even about trying to do right. It is about giving up. It is about quitting from all that and surrendering to Jesus Christ. We do not live by rules, requirements, systems or scorecards. We live by relationship with the Son of God, living this earthly life by faith in Him, believing all He has said, trusting all He has already done for us, and letting the life of His Spirit flow through us. That is true prosperity of soul — no rules, just His rightness.

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