There is a famous song by Philips, Craig & Dean called "Crucified with Christ" and it is one of my favorite songs. In fact, as I am writing this blog on this mild September 16th, 2013 morning I am listening to that song on my iTunes. It is one of my favorite songs because it reminds me that the whole purpose of my life is to live for God. "For I am crucified with Christ, and yet I live." You see Jesus died for us and yet we have the blessing to live each day of our life in the confidence that we don't have to die for our sins: Christ already paid the price!
I suppose and wonder if that wasn't what was going on in Paul's head when he wrote his letter to the church in Galatia: "But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not!" (Galatians 2: 17 NLT) You see Paul is trying to help the people in Galatia understand that the law is not the end all of being a Christian. We can assume that like most Christians at the time, the church in Galatia had the laws of Moses which were going to tell them how to live their life each day (what to do and when to do it, etc...) and they had created their own laws which guided them to doing the right things. However, the struggled when the tried to put all of that under the umbrella of faith they had in Christ: it would not. Paul knows this and is trying to set them straight.
Simply stated, Paul says, 'the law is rubbish, good, but rubbish.' In fact, the law would find us guilty and if the law was truly the means of our faith: well, Jesus would not have needed to die [would he?] (Galatians 3:2-4 NLT) But Jesus did die to set us apart from the law and free from the shackles of sin that so easily hold us back. Therefore our faith must be kept in Him.
At the time of writing this blog, I will have been looking for full-time employment for close to 2 months without too much success. When you are searching for full-time work you begin to put your faith in things that are of the world (the law) and not of God. This ironically allows my prayers every day to be and opportunity for me to say, "Lord thank you for the opportunities to discover you anew today." Do you see where I am going with this? The law makes me a sinner, but thank God I am crucified with Christ and live! This comes more to light when I read Galatians 3: 5 NLT "I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ." Circumstances change, jobs change, people change, laws change, etc.... but one thing will always remain true: Christ died so that we may live!
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT!
When you look back at your life, what have you done? When you think about the future, what will you do? You see, one aspect of accepting the Gospel message means understanding that your life will change; so, put your faith not in the law (in the world), but in the one whose life and sacrifice set the stage for your to daily commit your life to His.
I always get a sort of uplifted and excited feeling each time Philip, Craig & Dean sing "to die is to truly gain!" I wonder why that is?
