Today's Reading:
1 Chronicles 4:5-5:17
Galatians 2:17-3:9
Psalm 106:1-15
Click on Text Link to Read Online
Focus Verses: Galatians 2:19-21
19 For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20I
have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives
in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"
Insight:
Like
so much of the New Testament, Galatians is a letter. Reading Galatians 2
really feels like reading someone else's mail because of the references
to very specific people and events that only the writer and recipients
can fully appreciate. We can, however, pick up on the main gist of what
was going on.
The early Christians, their leaders, and
even the apostles, were struggling with the issue of how the freedom and
grace of Christ related to the observance of Mosaic law. Was observance
of the law something Christians needed to do? Were Gentile's who
followed Jesus supposed to observe Jewish laws and customs? Paul says,
"No." He says that no one is justified by observing the law (vv. 15,16).
Christians, both Jews and Gentiles, are justified through Christ Jesus,
not by obeying laws.
Paul insists that the observance
of laws or traditions cannot be used as a test to determine who is or
who is not a Christian. Paul says he has died to the law so that he
might live for God (v.19). The essence of being a Christian is living
for God through faith in Christ, dying to self and everything else—even
the law. Paul's point is that devotion to observing laws is not what
brings us to God or produces righteousness; instead, it is complete
surrender to God and living in faith and devotion to Christ that saves
and results in righteous living.
Response and Action:
I
need to live in full surrender to God. Doing the right things is not
what makes me right with God; being right with God is what makes me do
the right things. Jesus must be the focus of my devotion to God: loving
him, following him, hearing him, and pleasing him. I must surrender the
ownership of my life to Christ. He must be Lord and master. I must let
Christ live his life through me. The choices and actions of my life must
be guided not by rules but, rather, by the Spirit of Christ. I want my
life to be guided by how he would choose and act if he were living my
life.
Thank
you, O God, for salvation and life through Christ. Help me to surrender
fully to you and to follow Jesus with my whole heart. Help me to know
him, to love him, to understand him, to honor him, and to draw near to
him so that my life is completely shaped and guided by him. Amen.
Spiritual Formation Verses: Mark 8:34-35
34
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If
anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross
and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
Resources:
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians
by N. T. Wright
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