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Galatians
Having completed reading in Corinthians and now in Galatians
we see once again how soon good
people who want to live in the
freedom Christ brought them, return to the old ways of trying
to
please the Father by keeping laws.
We see this over and over in the early church and even today
it is evident in most every group
of believers.
The Father gives us grace, grace brings freedom, and freedom
brings joy.
Then as time goes on we decide to make a rule in order to make
sure everyone is on the same
page. This escalates into more
and more rules, (law) until we find ourselves preaching the
rules rather than the Christ. It has been stated over and over
that law will never redeem anyone;
it will only send them
deeper and deeper into bondage. Freedom comes from a growing
relationship with the Father and Son through the Holy Spirit,
not the keeping of a new rule.
We always need to be mindful of that truth.
Gal 6:11-18
I gleaned from the Message Bible something that pretty much
sums up the issues Paul was
facing from the Jewish Christians
of the time. (You may want to read it)
Ironically we
continue to experience this same kind of practices even today
in
Christian circles. Seems like we must have some sort of sign,
either real or
imagined that tells everyone "we have arrived". This varies
from one denomination to another
and even from one
congregation to another.
In some instances baptism is the sign, while others have a
scripted test to pass,
still others have a verbal sign, (i.e. speaking in tongues).
My personal thought about all this is given by Paul in this
letter to the Galatians as well as to
the other churches. It
is not what you and I do — submit to circumcision, reject
circumcision.
It is what God is doing, and he is creating
something totally new, a free life!
This is true about so many, if not all of man's attempts to
accurately judge a
person's heart by some test or action. It is as impossible as
it is ludicrous.
I know people who follow every direction given them by their
local body yet
live a life completely contrary to the Bible and on the other
side of that people
who keep few if any of the local laws and are a model of
Christian living.
In the final analysis it is the work of God changing hearts
that are softened by
the Spirit. The evidence is the daily living in natural
surroundings which provide the truth of a
pure Christian.
Sunday morning only, Christians don't count. |
