Living by Faith
(S) Scripture
You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
Galatians 3:1-3 (NASB77)
(O) Observation
Paul was addressing a problem in the Galatian church. The believers who had received the Spirit by faith were now trying to live by keeping the law. There were those among them that were teaching that very idea. The idea was to become a Christian by faith and then live that out by keeping the law. These false teachers were encouraging the believers to give up their freedom in Christ for slavery to the law. Paul challenges them and reminds them of the direction they should follow. They began and should continue by faith. Their trust and security is in their faith in the God not in keeping the law. They were justified by faith in Christ and not by keeping any law.
(A) Application
This is still a trap that many Christians fall in to. There are still those who teach that the way to please God is to focus on and keep the law. We too, are foolish if we think that we receive Christ by faith and then try to live out our faith by keeping the law. The problem is that we set up artificial standards and if we keep them we think we must be OK with God. God's grace has set us free to be all that God wants us to be. That freedom is not a license to do whatever we want but rather it is a freedom to do what is right and godly. Before we became Christians our sin nature was a slave to sin and we could only do things that displeased God because they were not from faith. We are now free to do what pleases God. Church Swindoll in his book "The Grace Awakening" calls these artificial standards "Grace Killers" and that is exactly what they do. The "laws" we put in place to show how righteous we are only kill grace in us and others.
Today I want to be a Grace Giver not a Grace Killer. I want to live by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit. I want my faith to be revealed and seen in what I do but it comes from my relationship with the Lord. In no way do I want to think or even imply that what I do in any way merits God's favor or grace. What I do comes out of my submission to Christ not from an obligation to keep the law. Today I desire to live free in Christ and in that freedom to impact people around me with the gospel of Christ.
(P) Prayer
Lord, help me to live free and to trust only in you. Let me live by faith, filled with the Holy Spirit and trusting in you. Make me aware when I am killing grace in others and myself. Let me make a difference for you today in someone's life. Amen
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