Your Daily Bible

When we make the decision to follow Jesus, we start a lifelong journey. But this is not a trip we make on our own. When we ask Jesus into our lives, we join a family of other Christians all around the world who are doing their best to follow Jesus step by step.

God is Relational all the way to His core, and he yearns to have a relationship with each of us, and He wants us to grow in our relationships with one another. Jesus demonstrated this for us in His relationships with the 12 disciples.

Galatians 6:1-3 teaches that community is necessary for every Christian. So how do we know when we’ve found the people God wants us to share our lives with? When seeking out community with other Christians, look for people who:

1.    listen to God and do what He says,
2.    hold you accountable,
3.    speak the truth with love and grace,
4.    are dependable and trustworthy, and
5.    readily give encouragement.

Believing we can do everything ourselves is prideful and shows a lack of humility. Opening up to people might seem scary, but we have more to gain by investing in friendships in the church than we have to lose.

When we respond to God’s command to love others, and we invest in relationships, we experience the joy, compassion, and depth of emotion that comes from a life well-lived (Galatians 6:7-8).

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We all know that feeling of walking into a gym for the first time. You want to get in shape, and today is the day you’re going to start! There is one problem: You have no idea what to do. You don’t know anything about fitness or how to use the equipment.

You need guidance.

There are times in all of our lives where we need counseling to know what to do. At a gym, guidance comes in the form of a personal trainer. In our spiritual lives, our guide is called the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the spirit of Jesus sent to us when we accept Jesus as our savior. In John 14:26, Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as our counselor, “whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things.” The Holy Spirit helps us in SO MANY ways, according to Galatians 5:

• He helps us overcome sin.
• He helps us follow God's instructions.
• He produces godly qualities in our lives.
• He encourages us to seek God's approval not man's approval.

Before meeting Jesus, we did what seemed right to us. When we do what feels good at the gym, we rarely see ourselves change. When we do that in our spiritual lives, we find ourselves stuck in an endless cycle of sin.

Without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we lived in conflict with God and His desires. Those old habits are hard to break. The only way to overcome sin and experience real life change is to listen and follow the Holy Spirit. As we let go of our old ways, our selfish desires are replaced with the characteristics of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

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Have you ever been in a relationship where nothing you did was ever good enough? If you have, you know it’s frustrating, exhausting, and often heartbreaking. The eventual outcome is that we stop trying, or worse, become bitter toward others and doubtful of our own self-worth.

If you’re experiencing the pain of a no-win relationship, here’s some good news: You never have to work to earn God’s acceptance. In fact, it’s impossible to earn it (Ephesians 2:8-9). Human nature leads us to think we have to obey certain rules to get God to accept us. But obeying rules doesn’t draw us close to God; it makes us slaves to the rules.

The Bible says when we were God’s enemies He sent Jesus to save us. He loved us when we didn’t care about Him. He loved us when we were doing sinful things. Through Jesus, God brings us into His family. The Holy Spirit changes us on the inside and makes us children of God, not robotic rule followers (Galatians 5:1).

What does matter to God is that Christians demonstrate their faith by showing to others the same kind of love He first showed us (Galatians 5:6). He wants us to love people who are far from God just as they are. He wants us to love them enough to point them to Jesus.

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“Don’t drink, smoke, chew or go with girls that do…”

For many this is familiar advice. The point is simple: Stay away from bad influences. Date those who follow the rules. It’s well-intentioned advice that misses the point. Instead of focusing on Who people follow, we focus on the rules they follow.

This is not a new problem in the church. From the beginning, people have struggled to understand the relationship between freedom in Christ and the call to live holy lives. Often, to solve this, churches obsess about either obedience or grace. Paul addresses this issue in Galatians 4. No doubt, teaching a set of rules is easier than teaching the radical grace described in the Bible. On the other side are churches that avoid addressing sin for fear of offending someone. Both groups miss the truth of Jesus’ message.

Grace and obedience are not independent of one another. We cannot obey our way into favor with God. That work was done on the cross by Jesus. When we understand that our salvation is an undeserved gift, our natural response is obedience.

As Christians, we have a personal understanding of how desperately we need forgiveness. Knowing Christ provides forgiveness creates a desire to obey rather than a requirement to do so.

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The apostle Paul wrote emphatically that Christians are sons and daughters of God, and therefore, Jesus is the Christian’s brother. Did you hear that? It’s truly remarkable! And this position of son and daughter is not just on paper; you enjoy this position experientially. If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, something supernatural occurred. At the moment of your salvation, the Lord Jesus released His Holy Spirit into your heart, and your spirit came alive. You were born again!
As a result of your new birth, the Holy Spirit is constantly at work bringing you into a fuller, richer relationship with the Lord Jesus and the Father. One of the Spirit’s most wonderful works is to give you the unqualified assurance that God is your Father. The Holy Spirit reminds you again and again that you truly are a child of God—and nothing can ever change that reality. Your spirit rightfully cries out, “Abba, Father!”
 But there is more. Since you are a son or daughter of God, you are not a slave. In fact, you are a joint heir with Jesus. You are in the family of God.

Commenting on what we see in Galatians 4:1-7, Tim Keller writes, “The Son’s purpose was to secure for us the legal status of our sonship. By contrast, the Spirit’s purpose is to secure the actual experience of it.”

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15 Brothers, let me give you an example: Think about an agreement that a person makes with another person. After that agreement is accepted by both people, no one can stop that agreement or add anything to it. 16 God made promises to Abraham and his descendant. God did not say, “and to your descendants.” That would mean many people. But God said, “and to your descendant.” That means only one person; that person is Christ. 17 This is what I mean: God had an agreement with Abraham and promised to keep it. The law, which came 430 years later, cannot change God’s promise to Abraham. 18 Can following the law give us what God promised? No! If this is so, it is not God’s promise that brings us the blessings. Instead God freely gave his blessings to Abraham through the promise he had made.

19 So what was the law for? The law was given to show the wrong things people do. It continued until the special descendant of Abraham came. God’s promise was about this descendant. The law was given through angels who used Moses for a mediator[a] to give the law to men. 20 But a mediator is not needed when there is only one side. And God is only one.

21 Does this mean that the law is against God’s promises? Never! If there were a law that could give men life, then we could be made right by following that law. 22 But this is not true, because the Scriptures showed that the whole world is bound by sin. This was so that the promise would be given through faith. And it is given to people who believe in Jesus Christ.

23 Before this faith came, we were all held prisoners by the law. We had no freedom until God showed us the way of faith that was coming. 24 So the law was our master until Christ came. After Christ came, we could be made right with God through faith. 25 Now the way of faith has come, and we no longer live under the law.

26-27 You were all baptized into Christ, and so you were all clothed with Christ. This shows that you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 28 Now, in Christ, there is no difference between Jew and Greek. There is no difference between slaves and free men. There is no difference between male and female. You are all the same in Christ Jesus. 29 You belong to Christ. So you are Abraham’s descendants. You get all of God’s blessings because of the promise that God made to Abraham.

Think back to playing games as a kid after school. Remember the arguments that ensued over an out-of-bounds call in basketball or a safe/out call in kickball? We knew the rules, but our selfish desire led us to yell, and even fight, over calls that didn’t go our way. It often took a mediator, like a teacher or parent, to correct the dispute.

The same way we needed a mediator for kickball and basketball, we need a mediator in our spiritual lives. Sin caused a rebellion between people and God, and we cannot restore the relationship on our own.

Jesus is the mediator who brings God and His people together. When God chose Israel to be His people, He gave Moses a set of commands called the law. The law established guiding principles for God’s people to follow. The law didn’t save people from their sin; it taught them how to be holy until a mediator arrived who could settle the dispute between our desires and God’s desires

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Life as a Christian can seem difficult if not impossible. How easy is it — really — to love our neighbors, to honor our parents, or to forgive someone who has hurt, betrayed or left us? How easy is it to share the Gospel with someone who you work with or sit next to in class?

It is impossible to follow Jesus on our own. The good news is Jesus gives us His power, so we’re never alone.

In Galatians 3, Paul calls the people “foolish” and “bewitched” for trying to earn their salvation. He reminds them that the Holy Spirit saved them. By trying to follow the law instead of accepting God’s grace, they were taking on an impossible burden and forgetting that they already belonged to Jesus.

Aren’t we just like that?

When we accept the gift of salvation through Jesus, He also gives us the Holy Spirit as our comforter and guide. The power of God lives in us! But instead of tapping into the power that enables us to follow Jesus, we slip into old habits and return to self-reliance. We allow others to dictate who we are.

When we are burdened by worries, hurts, or problems, we must keep our focus on the one who knows us and remember whose we are. We live under Jesus’ mercy and grace. He enables us to be who He’s created us to be and to do what He calls us to do.

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From the time we are babies, we are rewarded for hard work. We are promised a toy if we don’t scream during the shopping trip. When we are brave at the doctor’s office, we get a sucker. Teachers reward good behavior with stickers. As we get older, we work hard for good grades to get into a great college. We bust it at work to earn the promotion. Our whole lives teach us that success is the result of following the rules and putting forth the effort.

Maybe that’s why grace is a hard concept to understand. If I’m messed up and sinful, I’m not deserving. There must be something I need to do for Jesus to accept me. And once I am His, there must be a good behavior chart. There must be a list of things I have to do to be a successful Christian.

This isn’t a new struggle. Galatians 2 describes Paul’s reaction to Peter falling into the performance trap. Peter had begun doing what was right in other’s eyes, shutting out a whole group of people in the process. In Galatians 2:21, Paul reminds us that following a list of rules or checking off a to-do list is not necessary: “... if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

We are made right with God through Jesus’ sacrifice. Period. Galatians 2:16 says,  "Yet we know that a person is not made right with God by following the law. No! It is trusting in Jesus Christ that makes a person right with God." 

Peter was trying to follow man-made rules instead of the law God wrote on his heart. Focusing on a list of do’s and don’ts removes our focus from Jesus. When we decide to follow Jesus, He changes our heart. If we keep our focus on Him, He will guide our steps.

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Everyone knows “that” crowd in high school, the one we let intimidate us by their status or influence. They were cooler, more popular, had the best of everything.

But no matter how far removed the in crowd seemed, they are people just like the rest of us. They face the same struggles, hopes and fears. And while we might be intimidated, God sees us all the same. He does not show favoritism. We are all sinners in need of a Savior.

In Galatians 2:6, Paul writes, “Those men who seemed to be important did not change the Good News that I preach. (It doesn’t matter to me if they were “important” or not. To God all men are the same.) 

The Gospel is the same no matter whom it is presented to. It takes the same amount of grace and mercy to be forgiven by Jesus no matter how much we make, what car we drive or where our kids go to school. Just because we are given status by the world’s standards does not mean we have special status in God’s eyes.

Maybe middle and high school are decades behind you. Maybe you're scared to talk to your neighbor about Jesus because you're not a pastor. Maybe you're afraid to speak up about changes at work because you're "just a shift worker."

In God’s economy, there is no such thing as “just a …” God doesn't rate us according to our status; He looks at the attitude of our hearts. If God is prompting you to have a tough conversation, do it and remember that the person sitting across from you is also just a sinner in need of a Savior.

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Pleasing dad is something most of us strive for throughout our lives. No matter how complicated our relationship with our parents might be, something in us desires to please our father. But in Galatians 1, Paul, a leader in the church, addresses this need to win our earthly fathers’ approval over our heavenly Father’s approval.

Paul was zealous for the religious traditions of his family. But after an encounter with Jesus, Paul realized there was much more to his faith than what his family passed down. Seeking his family and community’s approval by following their traditions would never give Paul salvation or a right relationship with God. Only faith in Jesus could change Paul’s eternity.

That recognition changed the chain of command in Paul’s life. In Galatians 1:10, Paul writes, "Do you think I am trying to make people accept me? No! God is the One I am trying to please. Am I trying to please men? If I wanted to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."

Serving God — even when it goes against the traditions of our friends and family — is hard. Jesus knows this better than anyone. Wrestling with His impending crucifixion, Jesus prays,  “... My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).   

Jesus asks God to spare Him the pain that was to come, but ultimately Jesus places His faith in God the Father. At a time when Jesus could have pleased others and made His life less painful by denying God, Jesus’ trust in His Father produced obedience that resulted in our salvation.

We, like Jesus, are God’s children. Every day we face the hard choice about where to put our trust. In those moments, we have to stop and ask the same question Paul did: Am I trying to please God or men?

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