THE MISGUIDED SOLDIER

It’s a mistake to attempt to prolong that which Jesus put to death at the cross.
 
THE ELDER SON
 
We find the following observation, ‘The loyal soldier is similar to the “elder son” in Jesus' parable of the prodigal son. His very loyalty to strict meritocracy, to his own entitlement, to obedience and loyalty to his father, keeps him from the very “celebration” that same father has prepared, even though he begs the son to come to the feast (Luke 15:25–32). We have no indication he ever came!’[1] His loyalty to his Father was his loyalty. A loyalty of the kind that Jesus called ‘your law.’
 
CHRIST OUR LIFE
 
We are joined to God in Jesus. He himself is our joining.  Adamic/Mosaic separation is undone. We and Father are one in Christ: Real sonship. To be sons in spirit and in truth we must be in the Spirit and lead by the Spirit. In the Spirit we are one with Father and filled with His spirit and life. Led by the Spirit we are cautioned and directed by the Counsellor. No longer led by rules we are led and formed by life itself, personified as the Spirit of Christ. We participate in Christ in Himself. Presuming to participate by the law is attempting to join ourselves to an abstraction.
 
GODLINESS NOT RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCE
 
The most Godly of people may not be religious at all. Not religious but are the expression of the Christ as themselves. Religion as a thing in itself will always smother life. Christ our life makes us bigger than we are.
 
We can as Christians and sincere ones  be un-alive. But which we mean our spirit is dormant because religion has insulated us from Christ’s life that resurrects our spirit and makes for a robust soul. Incarnated people live with a joy and sense of God’s presence in the ordinary that is sometimes evident and often not – except  for the one who has been astute enough to agree with Christ that He is their life.
 
MISGUIDED LOYALTY
 
‘Paradoxically, your loyal soldier [Your old life in the law] gives you so much security and validation that you may confuse his voice with the very voice of God. If this inner and critical voice has kept you safe for many years as your inner voice of authority, you may end up not being able to hear the real voice of God. (Please read that sentence again for maximum effect!) The loyal soldier is the voice of all your early authority figures. His or her ability to offer shame, guilt, warnings, boundaries, and self-doubt is the gift that never stops giving. Remember, it can be a feminine voice too; but it is not the “still, small voice” of God (1 Kings 19:13) that gives us our power instead of always taking our power.’ [2] This is the inner voice that does not recognise true spiritual discernment due to the insensitivity of the religious ego and inability to be taught. The poor in spirit see God. The self-assertive only think they do.
 
DISTORTED CHRIST’S
 
It's a disconcerting fact, that we can love Jesus and be wedded to a Jesus who is not Jesus or His Gospel. To live in the old covenant when God has given us the new is to live as the fearful and self-centred conservative. He lives inside a forty-four gallon drum and shouts. ‘Don’t change anything!’ through the bung-hole. So he fades and decays into a raisin package of his religion.
 
HOLY SPIRIT VALIDATES THE CHRIST OF GOD AND THE APOSTLES
 
Clearly if we have been raised in legalism and made a transition to life in the Spirit, we need to be cautious about who we are hearing, when we ‘Hear the voice of God.’ Holy Spirit will not endorse old covenant verities, the law or making righteousness out of times, places or practises.  The result of this path can be passivism and torpor or outright lying and fraud.
 
Our life is now in Christ and our life-giving speech and activity is the expression of His person in us. There are no ‘keys’ to salvation or the authority of God other than the ‘You are the Christ, the Saviour of the world.’ The Spirit of revelation is true to Himself, His accomplishments for us and who He has made us to in Jesus. Christ in us, Christ as us, is our present and future glory.


[1] Rohr, Richard. Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life (p. 45). Wiley. Kindle Edition.
[2] Rohr, Richard. Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life (pp. 46-47). Wiley. Kindle Edition.