Day Thirteen. January 22. Galatians 3:1-14
Today we come to the heart of Paul’s message about our need to cling to grace and walk away from making up laws that have to be followed in order to be saved. He’s obviously frustrated with these dear ones for whom he almost laid down his life! Twice, he calls them “foolish” in my translation. This reminds me of an illustration the prophet Jeremiah used. Jeremiah said foolishness was seen when people ignored clean, clear water in a cistern – a clean vessel for holding water. Instead, they were making cracked vessels that could not even contain water because the cracked vessels leaked. God’s foolish people were using broken jars, basically, as their source of drinking water. Who would DO that when clean available water was right there for the taking? (See Jeremiah 2:13) In the same vein, the Galatians were walking away from the wondrous awe of being saved by grace and choosing the chains of obeying intricate laws they could never hope to keep.
So, I ask myself. Do I come to the Lord Jesus, my Source of living water? Or have I chosen substitutes that “look good” but aren’t actually Him? I want so much to live by faith in Christ and that means, of course, staying right next to Him, so I can hear His voice and do as He directs me. It’s very easy to find myself doing things that look good instead of stopping to actually be with the God who wants me to love Him and surrender so that He can make me good from the inside out. We need to spend time with Him, don’t we? There’s no substitute for being with Him and asking Him to fill us with Himself.
My verse: Galatians 3:2 “Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ.”
My response: Lord, they didn’t even know the law of Moses when they came to You and neither, actually, did I. We are saved by faith in You. Pure and simple. We are saved when we surrender to You and not when we strive. It’s all You, Lord Jesus. Unmerited grace poured out on us – and never my own works or deeds. Help me to never stop marveling at Your grace.
