2 Corinthians 3

Waking up at unpredictable times is what happens when my son is my alarm clock. Whether it is 4:30 am or 7:00 am, it is the best part of my day. Make a cup of warm coffee with my favorite creamer, curl up in my favorite spot on the couch with my boppy and a tumbler filled with water.

Nursing has been my favorite way to start the day, with a side of a Heartland episode… oh, my heart is full!

It’s the first hour of the day where I feel at peace, anticipating the rest of the day to be pure chaos. Chasing assignments and tasks and never quite catching up to them. I feel buried alive in work and house chores and being a mom, not because I can’t do any of it, but I can’t do it all. And because I try to, I don’t do any of it well.

Over the years I’ve given up my hobby of perfectionism little by little, knowing it is entirely unrealistic, although I’d like to think I could at least get one thing right.

I wouldn’t say I’ve lived with a faith by works. But I definitely haven’t lived with a faith without works. I constantly feel like that there must be some book of rules written down, a way to live.

This past week my husband asked me, “Peyton, how much time do you spend in the Word?”

It stumped me. I sit next to my Bible every morning. I even have a pen in hand and a journal ready to process my thoughts and pray. Yet, when he asked me that question, I realized that it’s not that often that I spend quiet time with Him in the morning.

It’s almost like there is a barrier keeping me from prying open His Word. In my heart, I abstain. I want to sit, comfortably, in my own thoughts. To not be offended. To not be challenged or moved.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul is explaining the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Both brought Glory to God, but one through condemnation and death, and the other through righteousness and life.

The law of Moses shown brightly with glory, though the Israelites couldn’t even look at it without perishing so they wore a veil over their face. But when Jesus came, the veil was lifted, and His Bride now has access to Him fully. He intervened so no one else has to. His death took the place of a relationship so far out of reach, that we couldn’t even glance at the glory without our eyes burning to nothing.

“For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭3‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

There is no longer glory found in the law of Moses. But there is a greater glory, and now freedom, found in the Holy Spirit, because there is nothing we have to do to prove ourselves – simply accept this gift.

I am free to stop counting my minutes in a day. I am free to stop being concerned with what I accomplish. I am free to stop worrying, to live in peace, and walk forward with hope.

There is freedom in the Spirit, new life inside of me, and it has nothing to do with me.

How would your day change if that weight you are carrying fell off your shoulders? Where in your life do you need to invite the Holy Spirit in to experience the freedom and fullness of life that Jesus died to give?