Letter or Spirit?
Jesus made a special point of discouraging the laying of emphasis upon outer observances; and, indeed, upon hard-and-fast rules and regulations of every kind. What he insisted upon was a certain spirit in one’s conduct, knowing that when the spirit is right, details will take care of themselves. Yet, in spite of this, the history of orthodox Christianity is largely made up of attempts to enforce all sorts of external observances upon the people.
Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life (2 Corinthians 3:6).
The real gauge of all our thoughts, words and deeds is the spirit which dwells in us and how that spirit prompts us to act. Even the taking of a human life can be the right thing to do if we are protecting our children from an intruder or if we are preventing undue suffering by=2 0a loved one who is on life support and will not recover. Yet, we can be following the letter of the biblical law and be doing great wrong because our spirit is filled with anger and judgement. The only true test is whether we are acting out of love, acceptance and compassion, or whether we are acting on some negative motivation.
The Pharisees were acting within “the law” when they asked for Christ to be crucified, and that was clearly wrong. That is not to say that God can be prevented from enacting his will, and in fact, this evil act became the most important event in God’s planned salvation of humans. However, through the Holy Spirit, God wrote his law in our hearts and we are called to act on this loving spirit in a way that yields the fruits of joy, hope and love. If our actions are producing these fruits, then our spirits are following the law and applying it according to God’s will. Then we will truly be ministers of the new testament and will inherit life and the peace filled joy that imbues true life.
Spirit driven,
Z gardener
Good Morning Garden 
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