Friday 24 Jun 2022

June 24: Galatians 3:23-25

Key Verse: Galatians 3:24
So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.

Devotion:
Have you ever had to stay in a place which had lots of very strict rules to follow? Boarding school seemed like that at times with lots of rules to follow which were strictly kept by the prefects and masters. To a large extent it made sure we behaved properly most of the time, but there were times we got into trouble because we broke the rules...

Israel was like that in the beginning because they had so many rules to follow so they could please God; when they broke the rules there would be consequences and the people would have to atone for what they had done wrong. After atoning they would be forgiven and life would continue.

When Christ came to live amongst us, everything changed. No longer would we have to live strictly by the rules and atone for everything we did wrong. Christ laid down His life to atone for all of our sins instead of us having to sacrifice animals or birds each time we got things wrong. Instead we are instructed to have faith – faith that Christ has died for our sins and we will be forgiven when we ask Him to forgive us.

No longer do we have to carry out the physical deeds to make sure we will be forgiven, our faith in believing Christ has paid the price once and for all is all that is required of us… just like the people had to have faith in looking up at the snake statue after snaked ran rampant in the camp of the people of Israel. All they had to have was faith that God’s promise to cue them and keep them safe would become true when they looked up at the statue of the snake.

Points to Ponder:
What do you think is the weak point in your faith?

Did you know Christ died to cover all of our weak points?