erudite1949

I believe that the Royal Law is God's complete law. Further, I think that James 2:8 reflects the second half of this law. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves. This, along with "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul..." makes up the first part of this Royal or "Sovereign Law". We are held accountable for loving ourselves; that is a sin; there can be no doubt. James makes it clear. We have two duties under one law in order to fulfill our Christian responsibilities, further, if one fails completely, routinely and without any tug from our conscience, in completing these duties, based on the tenor of the entire book of James, they should, examine themselves to see whether they are in the faith.

I think that in this particular passage, Paul is referring to working to enter into the eternal rest provided by salvation and depending on the work of Christ. Other places in the Bible we are told to enter into rest on earth by letting Christ carry our burdens. In both cases, the dependency is on Jesus, and, really, both have eternal implications. Apostasy is a sin against the Hoy Spirit. By the way, I don't believe a true Christian can fall away from Christ that completely; not because man isn't capable of that dramatic of a sin rather, Jesus promises to "keep us until that day". We are weak; he is not. If I thought for a moment that my salvation could be lost for any reason, I would lose my joy. I do believe that there are people who don't truly enter into a spiritual relationship with Christ and, ultimately become angry with the spiritual life, ultimately denying, or more accurately choosing to go the way of sin. Having said that, we all are going to sin. Paul tells us that time and time again. We are not yet completely transformed; that which we would do what we don't wish to do; Paul teaches us that while we are saved by Christ's blood; we still live in fleshly bodies; we haven't been given our spiritual bodies yet and can be expected to sin. The wonderful thing is that, Jesus Christ died for our sins past, present and future. While no true Christian will sin "just to be sinning since I am protected", nevertheless, we are going to sin everyday and it is only through continued prayer and study of His Word that we can grow and minimize the impact of sin in our lives

The loss of love always starts with the eye. We came to Christ initially because we focused on what was said to us. We enhanced our love for him by reading the Bible. However, often, in churches, we begin to "look around". What is wrong with this Christian or that Christian. We don't give God what is due Him. Slowly but surely our focus shifts from God to self and we no longer are close to our "First Love". Another way to look at it is to think in terms of the fact that our Spiritual Life (our true life, in fact), started with our trust and love in Christ; our first love. Certianly the Fruits of the Spirit are signs of genuine love; treatment of our fellow man and obedience; and, the antithesis would be not caring about spiritual things and letting the "old self" regain control Often, people think they have lost their salvation when this occurs. A congregation can regain their love for Christ by confessing their sin, which is hard to do; because, we are proud; and, I have found, no one is more proud than a fallen Christian. It is only through prayer and submission that we will regain our love. it is in there; it just has to be fed. erudite1949