Galatians 5:1-4 (NLT)
“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.”
I use the word “freedom” a lot — in the workshops that I offer and on this blog. I am continually searching for ways that we can understand what it truly means to live a free life in Christ. Galatians is all about a mindset shift, from the old way of thinking about the law to a new understanding of God’s heart as made more clear by Jesus. Grace had been there all along, but God’s people needed proof that their own self-reliance would never actually work. The law (and their failure to keep it perfectly) was a demonstration of our need for God.
Few people today are trying to live by the Old Testament laws to get in right standing before God. But the Christian sub-culture does have its own set of new laws: wear nice clothes to church, make your children walk in a straight line, read your Bible everyday just to check it off the list, be polite to all your neighbors (even when you gossip about them the minute they walk away). When we try to live this way, we become caught up in an image of perfection that once again ties us back into slavery.
Here’s your freedom for today: being a “good Christian” won’t get God’s grace for you. It is his choice to give you grace that gives you grace today. When we get caught up in the religiosity of “good Christian” rules, we are emotionally weighed down. So many people I have worked with in counseling struggle with not feeling “good enough.” My response: “Great news! You’re NOT good enough!” And you never will be. It’s time to stop trying. Let God’s grace free you today so that you can live a less pressured life that simply seeks the heart of God one moment at a time.