Random Thoughts Round 2

This week we are in the book of Galatians, Chapter 5 Verse 1-6 and 13-26.

“1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
2Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful naturea; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”15If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”

My concentration in this is verse 6 “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” So here we go.

Our favorite rabbi from Tarsis is once again the author of the text we are studying. As you can see, he talks a lot about love. This time, however, were talking about what tat love will do for you through the “fruit of the spirit”. As always we hear a LOT about what is wrong with humanity today, people who are “lawless” or lack proper morals, and Paul talks about what some of those things people do are in verses 19 through 21, he even warns that if that’s the path you choose, then there wont be a light at the end of that tunnel, but if you partake of the “fruit of the spirit” then we are destroying the sinful nature of humanity, all be it bit by bit.

He makes it a point to say that there is no law saying that you have to do these things that are positive, but there are laws against most of the negative. While we are “free” and live in a “free-society” there are bounds to our freedoms by man-made laws. We can walk into a store and walk out with a new TV without paying for it, or decide we just want to walk out with all of the money in the cash register. These laws hold up basic principles that are good for sure, but they really dont speak anything to the one law that Jesus Christ himself laid down as the supreme commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The thing is, if youre following that one rule, as it should be, you have nothing else to worry about, because then you're not doing any of the other things that would fall under "The law". To the same point, you can follow the law, or be circumsised, or whatever to prove your point, but it all falls on deaf ears without love.

So love, in short here, does a lot for you. It can change you, it can make you LEAP, it can show who you are, and it can be the one thing you'll ever need to ensure you're doing what you need to be doing. To quote a song by a rock band (and a great rock band at that) "All you need is love"