SCRIPTURE: Galatians 3:26-4:7
OBSERVATION:
The one thing that makes any person acceptable to God is humble submission (faith) to the Christ (messiah, promised seed). Prior to Jesus’ coming was preparation time. God used the Jews (covenant people, through Moses) to prepare for His coming, but now the original covenant with Abraham (Galatians 3:17), where all peoples are blessed, heirs by faith. Everyone in Christ has received the Spirit, is now a child of God, and may boldly call God ‘abba’, or ‘daddy’!
APPLICATION:
Have we limited the grace of God to those who are ‘in’ our group, who abide by our rules? Do I sense my closeness to God, to boldly call Him my daddy? So many people feel unacceptable (and so many churches have reinforced this feeling), yet these are the ones God wants to embrace. I do sense in our own tradition (Reformed) that we are mixed up about the old covenant, new covenant differences, that we still live more by law than by grace.
PRAYER:
Lord, I need help to better understand the new covenant. Help me to discover what grace is, to personally experience it, and to live out of it. Amen.