I confess, that in this time of reading Galatians it has taken me all the into chapter 5, before I connected the actions Paul is warning against, works of the law especially in getting circumcised, to my own “works”. Good grief. Paul says it so clearly in verses five and six.
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.
Galatians 5:5, 6 NIV
We need to be waiting for Christ’s return, while expressing our faith by loving others. Not doing, doing, doing. There will be doing, but it will be as a result of love, not as a result of “I better do this.”
And then in 17-18, Paul tells us that we can’t carry out “our” good intentions. Our good intentions pervert Torah and are opposed to the Spirit! We get to walk by the Spirit in love and not “try” to do anything. Christ did it. We don’t wake up trying to love others, we wake up united in Christ and as we love Him and believe in Him, the power of the Holy Spirit bears fruit. We order our lives day by day this way as Paul instructs. Grace is AWESOME!!!! We are FREE!! Free to love God and our neighbors! Yippee! Amen!! Thank you Jesus!!
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These Galatians passages have had me examining my motives in various areas. For example, even this 5x5x5 Bible reading program. Am I doing it just to “be a good Christian” and check it off my daily to-do list? Or do I read it to meet with God and hear what he wants to teach me?
Do you have any answers?