Binding or Liberating

[OBW]

Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!

Mike, I thought to also post the next day from that Hannah devotional, . . .

Yes, and I saw it later.

And at some level, it seems to underscore the problems I mentioned in my critique of the prior one. While "who we are" is of significant importance to the extent that we are talking about being among the redeemed, what we are, which includes what we do is not unimportant. It does not qualify us, but it is at least an important part of our purpose.

I know that it is popular to quote that thing by an old theologian that says something like "our purpose is to praise the Lord" (in many more words and more eloquently), but when I read Gen 1 and read "in our image," somehow I don't think that just being declared something (righteous, sinless, etc.,) is accomplishing that aspect of our creation. Just because God sees it doesn't mean that the world sees it. They see what we are in flesh and blood here on earth. Yes, the one living in us is greater than the one living in the world. But it has to be demonstrated to the world for it to be the image of God.

And Paul didn't really say that only the "inward life . . . availed." He just said that being circumcised and other rituals of the OT law was not it. And this is what is missing in the inner-life teachings of so many even if they are not also teaching the nonsense that Nee and Lee did. They are too enamored with the inside as being everything and the outside as not really important.

In my book, if God in Christ commanded action, then there is no excuse for avoiding it. Not even a need for "more dispensing" (as Lee so fondly said). And if a purpose for our being on earth is to bear the image of God, then arguing against works should be a non-starter. But for the inner-life crowd, of which Nee, Lee, and most of the LC and spin-offs are legitimately labeled, works are constantly argued against. Instead, it is all about what is inside that only God can see, or meetings that are too often primarily focused on me and my feelings.