Discover His heart: He replaced the law with Christ, focusing on His grace.
This is difficult to admit, particularly to my riding friends, but I’m not terribly fond of motorcycles. I’ve always found them noisy and smelly, and for one who doesn’t like to wear a hat, a helmet is just not going to happen. One can safely assume that I’ll probably never be found on a motorcycle, the football field or roller blades. I tried to indoctrinate my son with my attitude about motorcycles early in his life. Whenever a motorcycle passed us on the road with its thunderous roar, I would say to him, “Oh yuck, Brady, we don’t like those motorcycles,” and I also shared many subliminal messages.
When our son was a little older, an especially sweet Harley passed us on the road and my husband, the traitor, said to our son, “Brady, look at the cool bike!” And my precious innocent son replied, “Wow! I like it!” It was then I knew that my years of brainwashing had been in vain. The words of Paul to the Galatians came to mind, “Oh, foolish, Brady! Who has cast an evil spell on you?” I knew I had lost the battle. So to the bikers of the world, I acquiesce; but Paul, on the other hand, was not so quick to cave.
“Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you?” (3:1) Poor Paul. He had spent a great deal of time discipling the Christians in Turkey on several missionary trips and now to have them fall for the false message of the Judaizers! “You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.” (1:6-7)
In Chapter 2 we learn that the Judaizers were Jews who resisted Paul’s message of freedom from the Jewish law. To them, belief in Jesus and what He did on the cross was just not quite enough. They believed that all Christians, Jews and Gentiles alike, must follow the law given to Moses, and those who did not follow it should be avoided.
The Apostle Peter, unintentionally I am sure, added validity to their message when he would not eat with Gentiles in front of other Jews in order to keep the peace. I would love to have been sitting with a cup of coffee over in the corner of the cafe or wherever it was when Paul and Peter had their discussion in Chapter 2.
Paul, seldom concerned about diplomacy, said it straight up, “When I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law…so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God…For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.” (2:19-21) Christ and His Holy Spirit (3:2) living in me are more than enough!
Understanding Paul’s plight, we might say today, “Oh, foolish Americans! Who has cast an evil spell on you?” For the Judaizers of today, the law is irrelevant, but then to them, so is Jesus…irrelevant. The man-made religions of today, the Oprah feel-good ones, may seem more open-minded, more compassionate and inviting, but they have nothing backing them up.
A handful of crisp, new counterfeit $100 bills may look good, feel good in my pocket and may give a sense of prosperity, but when I go to spend them I’ll find that nothing is backing them up! Of course, some may reason that even authentic dollars do not have much backing them up today, but then that’s a topic for another day. Convenient, man-made devotion to some higher power is only just that, a counterfeit, and it doesn’t spend well. Jesus paid with His life, backed by the true and living God, and that we can take to the bank!
Moving Forward: I resist the trappings of the counterfeits today and depend on Christ crucified, living in me to direct my life. He’s all that I need and more than enough!
Tomorrow @ Exodus 33-36
Phyllis Benigas 