Galatians 5:1-6 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. Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
No tinkering allowed with God's unmerited salvation: no additional work, sanctification or sacrifice is needed to complete God's work of grace. Jesus' work completed the task of salvation for mankind. As Jesus proclaimed on the cross: “It is finished.” (John 19:30) Any other effort to enhance or to complete man's redemption in a different way is an anathema to God, for such attempts bring into question God's authority, judgment, and omniscience. This man-centered attitude tells God his plan is not good enough or is corrupted or is lacking in some way and requires something else that we can provide through our human efforts. This course, to tweak God's authority, was spawned in the Garden: Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1-5) Of course, every effort to interfere with God's authority eventually leads to disaster: death and destruction, as it did with Adam and Eve's deception. Grafting manmade plans into God's plans never succeeds; instead, the resulting disaster leads to bondage not freedom. Rather than unshackling ourselves, our interjections into God's intentions places more chains around our feet. Instead of jumping, running with joy, free in the sight of God; we shuffle through life, living under condemnation, full of sorrow, seeking desperately for peace through our continued self-efforts to please God. Too often Christians, who do not understand the gift of salvation through faith in Christ, find themselves trying to control their lives through rules and regulations, constantly evaluating themselves on what they have done, not on what Jesus has done for them. Such people fail to understand our inheritance. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16)
Yes, those of us who know the grace of the Lord should walk by faith, trusting in the strength of Jesus to keep us on the right path. But sometimes we get our eyes off the Lord. We must remember that Jesus told the woman who was caught in adultery to, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:11) He tells this woman of the night to leave her lifestyle of sinning to find hope in a new way of thinking and living. In Christ, she will find a life based on love and kindness, not on the dictates of the flesh and its wanton desires. However for this to happen, her mind would require a complete transformation, from evil to good. This is possible through Jesus. When He tells the woman to leave her sinful life, He tells the people, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) Paul indicates what is good in his letter to the Philippians, Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) There is little room for fleshly desires or a lifestyle of debauchery when our minds are filled with good things, good intentions, good purposes. However, minds, no matter how good they are, do not set people free from sin. Positive, appropriate, clear thinking is good, but not the key to releasing us into being free in our spirits. The key is our belief in who Jesus is and who we are. Is He the redeemer or are we the redeemer? Is He the complete work or does He need our work too? We find our freedom, peace, and quietness in God alone; all else will fail us. Paul says, But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. Complete perfection will come after our last fleshly breath when we arrive at our final destination with the Father, in Christ--sinless, perfect, holy. We all eagerly await that day, yet in our flesh we remain human. In our human state, we must confess Christ our righteousness, our salvation.
Do we have to wait for that day of perfection before we can be free, joyous, steadfast in our faith? Do we have to live with q burden of condemnation or guilt because of our failures in the flesh? No, we do not! As Paul said, The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Faith in Christ disentangles us from the works of the flesh, whether good or bad. Your good works or bad works do not override the completed work of Christ. His righteousness IS our righteousness. Our goodness or badness does not count for anything. Jesus alone pleases God. Some of your works might be judged by God as good, but they will not earn your favor before God's judgment seat, for the Bible says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. When you stand before God's holiness, you must stand as a child of God because of God's mercy and grace. As Paul wrote: But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:4-7) Now we know the love of God in us is the culmination of faith or the resultant of faith. If we love Jesus, we will love people as well. We will love because we have faith in God who is love. So Paul says, the only thing that counts is FAITH, expressed through LOVE. If we do not love freely, we do not have God. God is love. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. You are free to love, free to express God on this earth: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16) This is our hearts' cry! We stand with John and proclaim: This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. (1 John 3:11) Bless you dear ones as you love one another.
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