9 October: Galatians 3:7-14
Key Verse: Galatians 3:11
Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law; for ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith.’
Devotion:
Paul wrote these words with twofold meaning, first to remind us how Jesus lived by faith, but also by the law. The law he lived by was not the law according to the Jewish Leaders, but the law according to God.
There is a difference there because the leaders at the time had changed law to suit themselves and their way of living rather than what God had laid out in the beginning.
One of the laws which always reminds me of this is to not carry things on the Sabbath apart from in their homes. To get around this Orthodox leaders have strung a wire around huge areas to signify this is the area which one can move around within whilst pushing strollers or carrying goods - one being most of the isle of Manhattan!
People will always come up with excuses to get round the rules to make it easier for themselves thinking it will not matter too much to God.
But that is where Paul reminds us that if we want to live by the law, we have to live according to every rule and put up with the consequences of living within that law! Faith reveals something new to us...
Points to ponder:
How closely do you live according to the law?
Do you freely accept the consequences...