Thursday 16 February, 2017

2 Here is what I, Paul, say to you. Don’t let yourselves be circumcised. If you do, Christ won’t be of any value to you. 3 I say it again. Every man who lets himself be circumcised must obey the whole law. 4 Some of you are trying to be made right with God by obeying the law. You have been separated from Christ. You have fallen away from God’s grace. 5 But we long to be made completely holy because of our faith in Christ. Through the Holy Spirit we wait for this in hope. 6 Circumcision and uncircumcision aren’t worth anything to those who believe in Christ Jesus. The only thing that really counts is faith that shows itself through love.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.

Paul was called as the Apostle of the Gentiles (Romans 11:13). He got revelation to know the truth of Righteousness-By-Faith. It is one of the most important truths of Jesus Christ and difference from other religious.

But, some people in the Galatian Church have been confused and moved their faith from Jesus Christ back to circumcision (back to the Law) and tried to do Righteousness-By-Works. Paul knew it’s not the truth of gospel, but the seeds from enemy. It leads Christians to position themselves by WORKS, not by love and grace of Christ. So, on the one hand Paul said “in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value”, “circumcision is circumcision of the heart” (Romans 2:29), the other hand he said: The only thing that counts is FAITH.

I am challenged by Paul’s message. How many times have I thought to get righteousness by WORKS (helping the poor and under privileged children … Doing fund raising … Running a ministry .. Donating to charities … Even sharing the gospel to others) not by FAITH. Don’t get me wrong, those activities are all good WORKS and we should keep doing that to reflect Jesus’ love and grace. But, the key point is what is my intention in doing those things is? Was it because of the faith/love in Jesus or trying to approve I can do some good stuff to please God and get righteousness?

Dear Lord, thank you for saving me and loving me unconditionally. It’s not because I am a “good guy” or have done “good things”, but because you are the LOVE (1 John 4:16) and have set me free. I don’t have to position myself in Christ by works. I am FREE, Amen.

Written by Allen Leu