Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Galatians 2 and Psalm 133

In today’s chapter, Galatians 2, we come across one of the most central descriptions of the Christian life:

¹⁶ … (We) know that a person is not justified by the works of the Law, but by faith in Jesus Christ… ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 

Paul wrote this beautiful description of his own relationship with Jesus in response to those who accused him of preaching a Grace-Gospel that would give Christians the freedom to keep sinning because they were no longer subject to the Law of Moses.

The Christian Gospel starts with the realistic appraisal that people can never earn the favour of God by perfect obedience to God’s will. We simply cannot accomplish the necessary standard. But Jesus has lived that life on our behalf. Eternally abundant life is God’s free gift to us when we choose to die to our old way of living and to trust entirely in the merit of Jesus Christ and His self-sacrificial death for our sins on the Cross. In that moment of faith in Jesus and surrender to Him, God graciously and mercifully responds by declaring us to be right with Him (justified) on the basis of Jesus’ merit.

From that moment onward our life is not a matter of religion and rule-keeping, it is a life-giving relationship with the indwelling Jesus Christ the Son of God. Christ, who loves us with an everlasting love, lives within us by His Holy Spirit and He fuels our life of abundance and Christlikeness from within us. To the extent that we remain surrendered to Him, our lives are then lived as a visible, external expression of the invisible Spirit of Christ Who dwells within us. When a Christian lives in step with the will of God it’s not because we are keeping a set of rules but because we are staying in sync with the indwelling Christ. This is our freedom. This is our life!

Life Application: Throughout the day, focus on remaining conscious of the life of Christ within you and on staying in synch and in step with all He leads you to be, to do and to say.