To Eliminate the Need

Industry Decayed

'Then some Pharisees and teachers of the Law 
came from Jerusalem to Jesus and asked him, 
"Why is it that your disciples 
disobey the teaching handed down by our ancestors? 
They don't wash their hands in the proper way before they eat!"
Jesus answered, 
"And why do you disobey God's command and follow your own teaching?"'

Can I make a list of things to do
and refrain from doing
that will create in me a clean heart?

Can a kosher diet cleanse me of the internal dirt?
If the Spirit of holiness living in me does not make me holy,
all the teetotalism in the world leaves me
morally bankrupt and condemned.

The sufficiency of Christ is a crucial doctrine.
If Christ is sufficient,
there are no second class citizens in the kingdom of heaven.

When we add to the righteousness of Christ,
we trample Him,
and we trample His children.
We say, "Jesus, You aren't enough --
Your holiness is not as holy as my list."

The scripture says, "Be led by the Spirit
and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh."
But we want to eliminate Him from the equation.
We want to remove the need for the gifts of the Holy Spirit,
and the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

When we make our list of extra-biblical rules for the truly holy to follow,
we are attempting to rid ourselves of the need for God's Spirit in us.
We set ourselves up in His place --
where we ought not to be.
Wherever we begin to preach ourselves,
we cease to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Christians are the workmanship of God.
Individually handcrafted masterpieces.
And we attempt to wrest the work from Him,
patent it,
and machinate the work.

If the blood of Jesus Christ
and the power of the Holy Spirit
are not enough to make me holy,
what will?