Churchy Stuff
Yesterday I had two conversations that I found relevant today as I read through Galatians.
1- I was talking to someone who is searching for a "church" to attend. She wants to be involved, but not "committed" to a time constraint (drama, singing, kids- stuff). 2- I was talking to someone about the Saved by Grace instead of Works debate.
Galatians 4: 8-9 "....you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you know-or rather are known by God- how is it that you are turning back to those weak adn miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?" Person #1 has been "super committed" to a church service before and her family spent a lot of time making the "service" happen.
Galatians 2:16 "know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified."
Galatians 5:1-2 "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. 2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all."
No value to you at all. Wow!!! Don't we all try to rely on ourselves? our strengths? our "gifts"? anything at all we can do so we don't have to acknowledge that we will never be "good enough". We will never get it "right". We need to accept the love and the freedom Jesus came to give. We need to tell people. We need to live the life Christ wants for us.
Isn't it amazing? We humans need the same lessons over and over and over again. The "AGAIN" in the verses above really caught my eye. I know I need the same lessons over and over. Why are we so dense?
Yesterday I had two conversations that I found relevant today as I read through Galatians.
1- I was talking to someone who is searching for a "church" to attend. She wants to be involved, but not "committed" to a time constraint (drama, singing, kids- stuff). 2- I was talking to someone about the Saved by Grace instead of Works debate.
Galatians 4: 8-9 "....you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you know-or rather are known by God- how is it that you are turning back to those weak adn miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?" Person #1 has been "super committed" to a church service before and her family spent a lot of time making the "service" happen.
Galatians 2:16 "know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified."
Galatians 5:1-2 "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. 2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all."
No value to you at all. Wow!!! Don't we all try to rely on ourselves? our strengths? our "gifts"? anything at all we can do so we don't have to acknowledge that we will never be "good enough". We will never get it "right". We need to accept the love and the freedom Jesus came to give. We need to tell people. We need to live the life Christ wants for us.
Isn't it amazing? We humans need the same lessons over and over and over again. The "AGAIN" in the verses above really caught my eye. I know I need the same lessons over and over. Why are we so dense?
2 Comments:
At 7:48 PM,
Laurie O. said…
"Why are we so dense?"Boy, that's the million dollar question now isn't it? haha.
You point out some very good things here. Liberating to think about really, which is what I need today.
Thanks!
At 12:24 PM,
Joe said…
"but by faith in Christ" can also be translated "but by the faithfulness of Christ." Interesting to think that even having faith may be beyond our ability. It is, one might say, literally the faithful acts and life of Christ himself that saves (frees)us from our own faithlessness.
Yeah, we are dense not because we are bad or stupid or even selfish. We are dense because we have been programmed by a neo-law disguised as the faith of Christ. We have been born into this thinking, even my pagan friends have this understanding of Christianity. Yet "by observing the law (any law) you cannot be justified." Freedom in Christ is hard precisely because it is so easy. He does the work and we continue to think that we should do the work...that's religion.
so yeah, i agree...
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