Message Preview | Read Your Bible – Galatians | Part 2
By Chris Denning
This weekend we’re going to continue our look into the book of Galatians, Paul’s letter to a group of really well meaning believers who are holding way too tightly to their easily measured rules. More than that, we’re going to talk a little bit more about how we can make reading our Bible a regular part of our lives. That’s kinda the whole point of the series, right?
It’s not enough to take the time to read our Bible, but how do we build habits and routines to help making Bible reading a REGULAR part of our lives? That’s part of what we’ll look at this weekend, and I’m sure you’re going to walk away with some practical things you can do to start THIS WEEK!
As for Chapter 3 of Galatians, reading it again has reminded me of the importance of having a right VIEW or perspective of the law. A lot of people who grew up in the Church and left often leave because it felt like you were just being held to a list of rules you needed to follow. Honestly, I don’t blame them. When you look at the Old Testament, you see lots of passages where it’s JUST rules.
The role of laws isn’t to create an impossible bar for us to get over. Though Jesus provides us the way to get over that bar through HIS righteousness, the role of the law was to be our guardian, as Paul said. To provide guard rails for our life, especially before the Messiah (Jesus) had done His atoning work on the cross.
Also, rules are easy to measure. For instance:
Rule – Take Out the Trash on Thursdays
Result – Did they take it out or not?
Relationship and faith is much harder to measure, especially from the outside looking in. I believe that’s part of why some people tend to gravitate towards these rules or laws. It’s much more black & white or binary, if you will. There is comfort in rules, because you know the playing field and the rules of the game.
However, Jesus doesn’t call us to follow rules, but to a relationship that leads to transformation of our hearts, minds & lives. When you think about it, “come and follow me” is much harder than “follow these rules.”
This is just the tip of the iceberg, but I hope this weekend we’ll begin to see the law in the right light, as Paul teaches us. Come with an open heart, an open mind, and, for goodness sakes, bring your Bible