This is a big chunk of Scripture! I am including various
versions so we can get the gist of what’s being said... it is an important
message! I’m going to let it kind of speak for itself, too. So you can evaluate
it according to how you are living. Sorry to stray from the norm, begin by
reading it please
Galatians 3:1-6 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched
you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as
crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by
works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish?
Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did
you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does
he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works
of the law, or by hearing with faith— 6 just as Abraham “believed
God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?.
Ok, it’s a bit confusing, huh?
Think about when you made the decision to follow Christ (or,
if you haven’t, please talk to a leader about what this means). Where
were you? Why were you doing it? Now read verse 2-4 in The Message:
2-4 Let me put this question to you: How did your new
life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by
responding to God’s Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness?
For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what
was begun by God. If you weren’t smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how
do you suppose you could perfect it? Did you go through this whole painful
learning process for nothing? It is not yet a total loss, but it certainly will
be if you keep this up!
We need to remember that we are created new BECAUSE of God.
We can’t earn salvation ourselves. No matter how many good things we do – say
please and thank you, help someone carry their groceries, give money to
charities... the only way to heaven is by responding to God’s message – asking
Him for salvation and living our lives according to it.
Now look at 5-6 from The Message:
5-6 Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly
provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your
lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of
your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you? Don’t
these things happen among you just as they happened with Abraham? He believed
God, and that act of belief was turned into a life that was right with God.
Abraham was one of the first great role models of the Bible.
Here in this verse we see that good things came to him because he believed in
God. That belief was all he needed... a lot of promises were accomplished
through Abraham because of his faith... NOT because of any good deeds he did.
‘Cause we gotta have faith....
1. How do you generally handle
situations in which you disagree with someone?
2. …in order to make sure I was not _______________ in
vain.
3. Are you running in vain or are you running with a purpose?
4. Take a minute and journal your thoughts about this
passage:
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