From Rules to Relationship

Sometimes it feels like you’re trying hard to be a Christian… You’re active in church, you read your Bible… you want to grow, you want to change, but you still feel pulled by old patterns and old thinking. And if you’re honest, sometimes it feels like your Christian life is more about managing behavior than actually being transformed. Rules and routines leave you feeling more burdened than free. Maybe you’ve experienced the frustration of doing all the “right” things and still feeling like something’s missing. What if faith isn’t about measuring up but about embracing a relationship that really changes you?

Today we step into Romans 7, where Paul is speaking to believers who grew up under the Mosaic Law — people who were used to relating to God through commandments, rituals, and performance. But Paul is showing them, and us, that in Christ something radically different has happened. We’ve been set free from the law’s dominion because we now stand under grace. And in verses 1–6, Paul explains what that means through an illustration of marriage: the old bond to the law has ended, and we now belong to Christ so that we might bear fruit to God.

The truth is, many of us still live as though a list of rules defines our spiritual success, and we relate to God as if He’s measuring our performance. When the focus is all about doing or not doing, we end up tired, guilty and disconnected. Paul’s message invites us to trade law‑keeping for a life-giving relationship with Jesus that actually transforms us from the inside out.

Today Pastor Jeff helps us see what sanctification looks like in everyday life. He’ll remind us that God has already delivered us from the law so that we can serve Him in the newness of the Spirit. We’ll learn why our allegiance is to Jesus and not to religious systems, and how living stones in a local body help us grow.