by faith

I’m reading the book of Galatians (and so are you, if you are following along with Verve’s Bible reading plan) and really loving it. Today we read chapter 3. I love how Paul lays it out there that "we gain a perfect standing with God only through our faith in Jesus, not by following a set of rules." Which has been something I’ve always struggled with, it seems the church repeatedly tried to put the yoke of the law back on the believers shoulders, even though we are totally free from the law. I think it stems from personal issues people have that they are convicted by the Holy Spirt about so they think everyone should be convicted about those issues and they should be avoided. For instance, playing cards - some Christians believe it is a sin to play cards. So, they think anyone playing cards is going to hell. I don't believe that at all.

Here are a couple of other self imposed "taboo" issues:

Christmas trees, frogs, owls, dancing, rock-n-roll, drums, women speaking in church, alcohol, tatoos, smoking, sports on Sunday, eating pork, drinking coffee, caffeine, chocolate......

There seems to be a long list of self imposed no-no’s that have come out of the church and become doctrine. Jesus said the Pharasees (the lawyers of the day) make all kinds of rules for the people to live by, but, do not lift a finger to help lighten the load. Jesus came to set us free not to reimpose a legal system, in fact he said, "He who the Son sets free is free in deed."

Now, let’s get this straight, if God is telling you to stop smoking, then you had better stop smoking. That doesn’t mean everyone has to stop smoking because he told you to quit. So don’t let anyone convince you that you must stop or start doing something to become perfect or righteous. Unless it’s something that God is telling you to start or stop doing and he may confirm what you have been told, but, the point is that he wants us to go to him, not just follow a cold list of do's and don'ts.