At the end of 2005, Staples company released a small three inch round red button with a very popular campaign ad, “That Was Easy.” The product that highlighted the campaign was this button, powered by batteries, that brought back some humor to a dry office or business. After a frustrating phone call at work, laugh it off with a push of this button.  Speakers under the button cheered that the task you completed was easy.

In a conversation with some other college students in a car, one of the guys I was speaking with commented, “Christianity - well that’s easy,” referring to the “rules” that he believes we are bound to obey.  “Christians don’t drink alcohol, have sex before or outside of marriage, or do drugs.”  The Bible outlines an excessive list of commands that Jesus gives as the values and principles that define holy living, but that’s where some people lose track of the Holy Spirit’s intention and get caught in the legalism of the law.

Romans Chapters 7 and 8 tries to explain this idea, where Paul writes that we wouldn’t know what sin is except for through the law, and that after God told us to not do it - we have this huge desire to break the law God has given us.  “I found that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death,” (Romans 7:10).  Not a literal death, but a figurative one.

“Living in the Spirit of God,” used to sound like some spiritual jargon to me, but now I try to look at it as, ‘Living for the good and holy, and not being worried about not breaking the law.’  These are two different points of view.  Instead of worrying about being in God’s favor for not breaking the rules he set forth, try to live in a way that your actions please God by looking for the good to do and the rest will fall into place.  There is an easy trap for myself, a very logical and reason oriented person, that I struggle with this concept.  I find myself trying to ‘follow the rules’ that Jesus set in place, instead of trying to live ‘in the spirit’ by acting to please God though my life.