We don’t want to stop on this street corner (the street corner of the Law – it will beat you up pretty bad and leave you for dead). Our purpose for looking closely at the Ten Commandments these last five days has not been to “condemn” you or depress you! Remember their purpose is not to save you, but rather to be a “mirror” to show you what God sees in your heart. These top 10 ways the image of God has been marred in our lives are a great way to help someone “outside” of Christ realize they’re “sinful.” There is no better mirror to hold up for a lost person. But at the end of the day, we should not spend our energy on looking at ourselves trying to fix all of our flaws – the Law won’t fix them, only point them out. Having glanced in the mirror, our reaction should be to go running (daily) into the arms of Christ proclaiming “I can’t do it – I need You!” This was Paul’s reaction… note just two passages.

Romans 8:1-4 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Philippians 3:7-10 “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ...”

In context, Paul in Romans 8 has just finished bemoaning his weak and pitiful state apart from Christ – a state he would be in if he simply trusted in his ability to keep God’s Law on his own (read Romans 7). Instead, his conclusion is to simply throw himself fully onto Christ, and let the Holy Spirit do the work inside of him. In other words, DON’T TRY TO FIX YOURSELF – YOU’RE TOO MESSED UP! IT’S THE HOLY SPIRIT’S JOB TO FIX US – SIMPLY FOCUS ON CHRIST! 

Conversely, in Philippians, Paul totals up all the ways he was able to keep the Law and shows that NONE OF IT COULD ADD UP to a relationship with Christ. In fact, it was worth “garbage” compared to having a relationship with Christ. At some point in your Christian walk, you may be tempted to look back and/or look at yourself and say, “wow, look at what I’ve become! I’m pretty good now.” Paul would say that’s just a “sack of trash” compared to knowing Jesus. It’s not about us! It IS about Him! Life is NOT about looking at ourselves in the mirror – Life IS Christ. Or, to put it as John the Baptist did, “He must become greater; I must become less” (John 3:30). 

After 180 days, you’ve probably seen Christ change a few things in your life. Jot down a few of the things He’s changed:

Write down what has changed IN YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST in the last 180 days: