I'm 58 years old and came to Christ in the early 1980's, so I'm well aware of all possible objections to what I am going to write.
We've all been taught a "MILK" type of devotion, but now let me show you a more excellent (better) type of devotion based on "solid food" and the "GREATEST of these".
1 Corinthians 12:31 "the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way".
1 Corinthians 13:13 "So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love".
1 Corin. 3:2 "I fed you with milk, not solid food".
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ALL spiritual law is dead, gone, and buried (unless you want to consider "LIBERTY" a "LAW", spiritual law is now completely irrelevant to devotion).
James 2:12
"So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under.....the LAW OF LIBERTY".
Mosaic law (what he brought down from the mountain PLUS the rules/ordinances of his own)
was ABOLISHED.
Ephesians 2:15 "by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances....".
Now, no longer can anyone violate ("SIN" against) the law that Moses laid down (neither can we "repent" from it......LOGICAL??...YES it is logical).
For us, "sin" is no longer a spiritually relevant concept at all. The word and concept are simply
OBSOLETE to us (the world is simply hung up on it as a self persecution metaphor for "wrongdoing").
There is no text/guidelines/obligations/requirements to this LIBERTY "law" in James 1:25 and 2:12 (actually, to us it is a conflict in terms, oxymoron , how can LIBERTY be a LAW?....only God can express His love for us in this way).......but neither is it an OPTION for the believers WHO CHOOSE TO "look" to PERFECTION.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/translationResults.cfm?Criteria=law+of+liberty&t=RSV&sf=5
"when the perfect comes, the imperfect shall PASS AWAY" (1 Corin. 13:10).
Even when John was preaching, it was "men of violence" who FORCED a 'heavenly' lifestyle upon themselves by using books and COMMANDS....
Matthew 11:12 "and men of violence take it by force".
.....but God doesn't want us to have to be COMMANDED to do goodness, He wants us to be "LOVERS OF GOODNESS".
Titus 1:8 "lover of goodness, master of himself"......(God wants to be "Abba Father" to each of us, not "master").
The crucifixion has been accomplished/done, so for our devotion/worship, we must move on to the "better things".
Hebrews 6:10 "better things that belong to salvation".
We should longer have a REPENTANCE FOUNDATION,....NOW our ONLY foundation must be Jesus Himself.
It is good and wise (the BEGINNING of wisdom) to believe that God exists, but if you have a sincere heart for God (like King David did), then you also want to believe that God is GOOD
(and that He is a REWARDER, not a PUNISHER). For that reason, anyone who wants
to "DRAW NEAR" to God must believe TWO THINGS...
Hebrews 11:6 "that He exists" AND that "He REWARDS those who SEEK HIM" and His REAL truth (draw near).
This is called a "faith for faith".
Romans 1:17 "the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith".
Many believers simply want to be "saints" and have only their flesh purified, but we should 'aim for the stars' and also have our conscience purified by learning from the Holy Spirit to always do things right so that our conscience will be clear everyday (so that we can be a "SON OF GOD")....
Romans 8:15 "For you did not receive the spirit slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, "Abba! Father!".
Hebrews 9:14
"the eternal Spirit........purify your conscience".
.......the Jews used to perform sacrifices and make offerings to God in order to be "purified", but they had to repeat the rituals every year because their purification was not "ETERNAL" purification, ours is. Jesus came in the "fulness of time (the completion and END of "time). He ended the age of time and began the age of ETERNITY (this is why God's Holy Spirit is called the "eternal spirit" and is "everlasting purification").
In order for a believer to have their "flesh purified", they only have to let the BLOOD that Jesus shed cover their violations of 'Moses law'.....(but remember that Jesus also shed WATER while on the cross).
If we choose to let our heart actually 'FEEL' sentiment and be a 'gentle heart' (like the woman who wiped Jesus's feet with her "living water"), we will "neither thirst" (many believers simply
"hunger").
John 7:38.....TRUE DEVOTION/worship)...."He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, 'Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.'"
Revelation 7:16 "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more".
Yes, the "more excellent" devotion is dependent on having a "heart of flesh" (as opposed to a "heart of stone") that can FEEL sentiment (tears of sorrow, "sorrow" is the precursor of love) like the maiden who sought whom her SOUL loves...
Song of Solomon 3:3......(also called Song of Songs)
"I will seek whom MY SOUL loves".
Before the Council of Jerusalem (around 50 A.D.), there was no such thing as a "Christian".
Acts 11:26
"and in Antioch the disciples were for the first time called....Christians".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incident_at_Antioch
The Jews of Jesus's time that came to accept Jesus as the promised Messiah (Judaizers) wanted to also still follow MOSAIC LAW (this was referred to as "circumcision")......They no longer wanted the original name of the true devotion to Jesus (called "the Way").
Acts 9:2 "if he found any belonging to the Way".
Acts 19:9 "but when some were stubborn and disbelieved, speaking evil of the Way".
Learn "solid food" from God's spirit instead of commentary books (1 Corinthians 2:10).
Hebrews 6:1 "Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity,
not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God".
.....but, if you'd rather deny what The Lord really did put in scripture, simply continue to believe all the lies that man has taught you and every other believer for centuries. The sixth day creation (man) has always loved learning about the three aspects/dispensations of God as though man himself is divine and should be glorified at the pulpit, etc. (we are our own '3 sixes' stumbling block, we have not learned to be a '7th day creation' "living breathing soul" (restored to the way Adam was before the fall in Eden).
Revelation 13:18 "it is a MAN'S number".
...love God as ABBA FATHER, not MASTER and discover the "depths of God" (1 Corinthians 2:10).
All verses are from the RSV.