Old Habits Die Hard
Galatians 3:1-5 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified! The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was for nothing. Well then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?
The older I get, the more I realise what a creature of habit I am. We all have routines, little rituals that play themselves out day after day.
In the morning when I get up, I always shave before I clean my teeth. It’s never the other way around. I never clean my teeth first and then shave. I couldn’t imagine doing it that way. Why? Habit, routine.
I’m sure that you have your silly little rituals as well. We all do. And one of the habits we want to fall back into, is believing that the only way we can be in God’s favour is to work hard at it.
Now if you’ve believed in Jesus for any length of time, you’ll have heard sermon after sermon about God’s grace.
What’s grace? The free, unmerited favour of God. I’m guessing you’ve heard that definition on more than one occasion. And grace is such a great concept. The theory of it is so … elegant. So simple. In fact, deep down, we suspect it’s just too good to be true.
I was staying with a man recently, a real man of God, who shared something with me of his past. Something he regretted. Something he was ashamed of and I could tell, in his heart of hearts, he still wasn’t over it. He still hadn’t really forgiven himself for it … and I’m guessing that in his heart of hearts, he believed that it was still an issue for God too.
You get that right? Well … check this out. This is the Apostle Paul’s reaction, his response to that old habit:
Galatians 3:1-5: You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified! The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was for nothing. Well then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?
See? They had the same problem as us. They were always wanting to fall back to the old ways of working their way into God’s favour through what they did, rather than knowing for absolute certain, deep in their hearts that they were already in God’s favour because of what they believed. Knowing absolutely one hundred percent that God had completely forgiven them. Absolutely!
Listen to me. If you believe in Jesus, then you are drenched in the grace of God. In the free, unmerited favour of God. Today and for all eternity. That’s freedom.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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