Oh, you foolish boy! Oh, you foolish girl!
Raise your hand if you’ve had that said to you before. I think it’s easy to say that we’ve all been there at one time or the other. We knew what was right. Our parent or teacher had told us what to do. We’d been given something, entrusted with something precious, and we blew it.
Like letting our ice cream fall off the cone. How hard can it be to hold on to the cone long enough to enjoy the delicious taste of the special treat?
It’s not that hard really, but we don’t always listen to what we’re told, do we? Or, we might hear what they’re saying, but choose to do things our own way. Neither usually works out well.
That’s what happened with some believers who received a letter from their spiritual father, Paul.
“Oh you foolish Galatians!” he wrote. What ticked him off? Their seeming disregard for grace.
Do not set aside the grace of God.
They’d heard the gospel, accepted the atonement given through the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. They received it by faith. Jesus did the work awarded to them by grace, but now they were setting aside this gift in place of human effort.
Works done, not out of love for God, but out of fear of his wrath nullify grace.
When we set aside the grace of God for our own works, we are saying Christ died for nothing.
Right standing cannot be obtained by the law. Abraham believed and God credited it to him as righteousness. Christ died that grace might abound, making all who believe right with God.
Does God have reason to call you foolish these days? Have you allowed fear to rob you of the rest that grace provides? Are you trying to achieve right standing with God through works and wearing yourself out?
Test your self to make sure you do nothing that nullifies the work Christ has already completed on the cross.
Looking around for the peace you once knew? You’ll find it in the grace you set aside.
His grace gives His peace.
Grace and Peace
*Read and meditate on Galatians, chapters two and three.