Tuesday 15 October 2019

O foolish Galatians

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? – Galatians 3.1-3

‘O foolish Galatians’ Paul said. Paul had quite a way of putting things sometimes. You can sense his frustration with them here. He could hardly believe that they could be sucked back into the Law with all its dos and don’ts. They were bewitched into thinking that though they were saved by grace they had to obey the Law.

How does that happen? Why in the world would people be drawn to a system of rules and regulations when they were living in liberty?

It is indeed foolish, but I have learned, for some reason, that a lot of people love to have it all laid out for them. ‘Just tell me what to do’ seems to be their attitude. That way it’s easy. I can tick off my ticklist and got to bed happy that I have done what I am supposed to do.

But is that really how we want to live our lives? Do we really want to live man’s a regimen designed by man to make men happy?

In Christ we are free from all of that – but God’s standard is even more live changing. Instead of trying to just meet a bunch of standards we live in a way that will honour and glorify God. If we are striving to be imitators of Christ it will do far more good than keeping that list of rules. We can’t just tick those boxes. Our goal is much higher. Is is something we must strive for every day and we can never be content that we have done enough.

Don’t be tied down by men’s rules. Let Christ work in our lives.

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