Thoughts From Galatians 5 - Part 1

  It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? 8 That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. Gal. 5:1-8

       Try as I might, I struggle with righteous behavior. I am righteous because of Christ but righteous behavior is different. I guess that's what the Galatians were confused by. They were trying to become righteous by acting or behaving righteously, forgetting that in Christ they were already righteous. Have I confused you?

      Let's take Christmas for example. All 21 of us are together in the house, everyone is talking all at once, babies are crying, kids say "mommy" 20 times in a row without the mom acknowledging them and then someone says something like, we would come visit more but it's too far of a drive and I want to say, "next time you ask us to babysit we will say, "It's too far of a drive", but I don't. I suppress it because I know that wouldn't be loving. But the very fact that I thought it and I wanted to say it shows how far I am from true righteousness. In fact, Paul says that we are awaiting righteousness which will finally come when we are in Heaven and free from these sin natures. You see, I can't truly love because I love myself most of all and try as I might, I always will until that self finally is laid to rest.

      The cool thing is God looks down from Heaven and sees me as righteous because of Christ, even though I feel far from it, and loves me and accepts me, and there is nothing, no work, no deed, no observance, no ritual that I have to do to earn it. I just am. The Galatians were struggling with that because someone had told them wrongly that they had to earn God's favor and because of that had lost their freedom.

     Do you feel loved and accepted by God or are you trying to earn His approval. Stop it. You're in. Bask in His love and just try to do right. The Holy Spirit has been given to you as your helper in that endeavor.