Reflections for 3/11/14

"I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing."(Galatians 2:21)

At some point you have probably said to yourself, well that was a waste of time, or what was the point of that?  You've gone through a very painful experience, made some kind of sacrifice for another person, and nothing came of it.  You can't even look back and say, I did what I knew needed to be done.

As a Christian the greatest gift we've been given was God's grace, given freely to us because of Christ's death.  Living fully into that grace filled life one would think should be easy.  And yet I seem to find people wanting to complicate it all the time. If they can just put some controls on others, whip out a handy verse or two to show their correctness, all will be well, they will be justified.  It is even more ironic when they choose their quotes from the Hebrew Scriptures.  This happens especially in any of the cultural wars when the Bible gets quoted.

And yet here is the Bible giving us a real warning about doing that.  If our justification comes through the law, or I'd add in quoting the law, then Christ died for nothing and grace is nullified.

I do think it is incredibly important to know what the Bible says.  I read, mark and inwardly digest it daily.  However, to use quotes from scripture as a weapon to judge others violates the integrity of the Good News and personally I won't do that.

Blessings,
Ed