1My friends, you surely understand enough about law to know that laws only have power over people who are alive. 2For example, the Law says that a man's wife must remain his wife as long as he lives. But once her husband is dead, she is free 3to marry someone else. However, if she goes off with another man while her husband is still alive, she is said to be unfaithful.
4That is how it is with you, my friends. You are now part of the body of Christ and are dead to the power of the Law. You are free to belong to Christ, who was raised to life so that we could serve God. 5When we thought only of ourselves, the Law made us have sinful desires. It made every part of our bodies into slaves who are doomed to die. 6But the Law no longer rules over us. We are like dead people, and it cannot have any power over us. Now we can serve God in a new way by obeying his Spirit, and not in the old way by obeying the written Law.
I went through the intersection and saw a "flash". A week later I got a I got a nice Olan-Mills quality print of me non-chalantly cruising through a "greenish-red" light. Busted!
Laws have sanctions when we break them...in this case, For $75, I could keep the picture! Sanctions are intended to encourage compliance.
But what if the laws don't apply? Then, no penalty. The military has something called "Status of Forces Agreements" with every country in which we station military personnel. The SOFA is mostly concerned with the legal issues associated with military individuals and property. This may include issues like entry and exit into the country, tax liabilities, postal services, or employment terms for host-country nationals. So, while Mali and I were stationed in Germany we were not required to pay the 17% Value Added Tax (VAT) of purchases. We also didn't pay $4 per gallon for gasoline.
Sweet!
Phil Driscoll sings a song titled "Jesus Paid it All".
With every drop of Blood that fell that day.
A billion tears of pain were washed away,
Ten thousand times ten thousand wars were won.
There was nothing left to pay.
Like the rain that washes earth and air,
Like a fountain flowing pure and clear,
Cleansing hearts and souls, and minds of men,
And tearing down the walls of fear.
Jesus paid it all,
Jesus paid it all.
With every stripe a final sacrifice,
Jesus paid it all.
One Man hung suspended in the space.
A power struggle for the human race.
It bridged the gap between mankind and God.
And dying with Amazing Grace.
With every drop of Blood that fell that day,
Ten thousand tears were washed away.
Ten thousand times ten thousand wars were won,
Till there was nothing left to pay.
Like the rain that washes earth and air,
Like a fountain flowing pure and clear,
Cleansing hearts and souls, and minds of men,
And tearing down the walls of fear.
Jesus paid it all, Jesus paid it all.
With every stripe a final sacrifice.
Oh, Jesus paid it all.
Jesus, Oh, Jesus,
Jesus paid it all.
The Law of God does has a dire sanction for Law breakers...eternal separation from God. Somehow, even that doesn't incline us to obey. It's like we've decided we'd rather spend eternity with somebody else. We are "walking dead". But, Calvary is our "Status of Forces Agreement". Calvary is our legally binding contract with God that the penalties have been paid.
That is...if we recognize we died with Christ. The law doesn't apply to dead people.
Live boldly out there today...
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