Thank God For Grace!

Good day people. Hope you enjoyed the weekend and you’re ready to get back to the grind.

In the previous post we looked at the example of the Galatians losing their positive attitude and went on to see how keeping the realities of God’s grace in our hearts helps us overcome and avoid such situations in our personal lives. 

In my post this week I will move on to verse 21 of Galatians chapter 4:

“Tell me, you who are bent on being under the Law, will you listen to what the Law [really] says?” Amplified version.

I can almost feel the shock Paul must have felt when he heard that the Galatians wanted to be under the Law of Moses. His question in our verse in focus is to ask the Galatians whether the Galatians actually understood what the implications of being under the Law were. Paul essentially was asking them, “Do you know what you are asking for?”  

This same question is well worth asking many Christians in our day. Many people still attempt to return to the Law. I guess some of it is simply an instinctive human tendency-there is a ‘natural’ disposition for us to be more comfortable with a system in which we earn things through our hard work (which is the basic system of the Law) so we assume it’s the same for God. 

Permit me to do a brief run-down of some facts about the Law. On the day the Law was enacted 3,000 Israelites perished for their sins (Exodus 32). There were over 600 laws and most probably if you were trying to live under the Law you would never remember them all. Some of the laws forbade them from wearing clothes made from a combination of materials (I wonder what sort of shirt or dress you are wearing as you read this. You probably would have broken that law). There were laws concerning growing crops on the farm. There were laws concerning foods. There were many sacrifices prescribed for different occasions with different regulations on how the priests were to offer them.

To even make matters worse for people like us (non-Jewish people) we actually were not even reckoned with under the Law. For instance we wouldn't even have been able to go beyond the outer courts in the temple. So you can imagine how far away we would have been from the most holy inner place where God's altar was set up. And in the end, even the strictest adherence to the law could not meet up with God's standard of righteousness!  Do we honestly want to go back to that system?

There is a wide gulf between the Law and grace dear friends, and sometimes we need to think deeply about how life under the Law would have been so we can appreciate the blessedness of the grace of God that we enjoy in Christ Jesus. 

Thank God for grace! Thank God for this New Testament in the blood of our Saviour, Redeemer and Lord! Thank God for the atonement and reconciliation by the cross of Christ! Thank God for His great display of unmatched love! Thank God for this new and living way!

My song for the week is “Amazing Love” by Newsboys.

As we begin the week, let your soul rejoice. We really didn’t stand a chance in the face of the Law but God stepped in and made a way through His grace. This again is another snapshot of God’s astounding grace. Have a very great week.

"Amazing Love" by Newsboys