September 19th

September 19th

So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law. Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you. I'll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses. For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace. But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love. (‭Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭1-6‬ NLT)

This is a good picture of what it means to live the Christian life. We've all been there. Trying to live our life on our own strength. Maybe we have accepted Christ but we don't really get it. Maybe we are just too stubborn to let go of control. But the truth of the matter is if we are trying to earn eternal life, then we have greatly missed the point. If we are trying to do it on our own, then we are discrediting Christ crucified. I remember when I was a kid, playing Super Mario Brothers. Now throughout the game there are different "power-ups" and every time you get to the next one without getting hurt, you get the next one better. One of the power-ups is a star, and when you get the star, you become invincible to your enemies for a while. Now if you use this as an analogy for our passage today, living under the law is like playing Mario without a star. Dodging enemies, jumping over them, battling through. But, living in the spirit is like having that star power. You can just run, and not have to worry about the enemies around you, because the star power (Christ) has already defeated them. This life is so much simpler if we lean on Christ rather than our own power. Jesus paid it all so I don't have to. We need to live like we recognize Christ paid it all, and all we have to do is trust in him. Trust in his provision.

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