“The chief mark of counterfeit holiness is its lack of humility” Andrew Murray
Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
Our youngest daughter was notorious as a two-year-old for the phrase, “I do it!”. She believed she didn’t need our help to tie her shoes, brush her teeth, or buckle herself into the car seat. Needless to say, the only way any of this got done was for our daughter to cease in her futile effort and allow her mom and I to achieve what she had already demonstrated as impossible of herself.
Paul said, “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3). What is it about you that you think the Lord is in need of? Is it your scripture knowledge, your personality, your I.Q., your looks, your best effort and service for Him? Not that any of these things in and of themselves are bad but depending on you (your flesh) to use them for good is a waist of time. If you take a carful look at this verse you will come to realize the the law is not the problem but you are. Simply put the flesh can’t satisfy God’s law.
I have found that it’s easy for us to believe that the law is the problem but that’s not true. You see the law is simply the description of the image of God which mankind is to reflect (Gen. 1:26-27). Why should we not murder? Because God does not murder. Why should we not commit adultery? Because God does not cheat. As we look at the whole of the law we find this to be consistent. The law is to be kept simply because it is an accurate description of the image of God, for which man is to be seen living out.
Here in lies the dilemma. Mankind has done nothing since the fall (Genesis 3) but prove that we, by depending on our flesh can’t live out God’s image! The good news is that Jesus made it clear He is the solution to to this problem, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.” (Matthew 5:17). The only way that the image of God as seen in the Old Testament law can be seen in you is if God through Jesus Christ makes His truth a reality in you (Heb. 8:7-13).
Are you trying harder today in your best effort to be what you already proved yesterday as impossible? Are you frustrated and at the end of your rope? Are you ready to give up on the one who has proven nothing but failure? Are you ready for the Life that God has intended for you since creation? Then by faith look to Jesus and say with Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Gal.2:20)
“God is not looking for extraordinary characters as His instruments, but He is looking for humble instruments through whom He can be honored throughout the ages.” A.B. Simpson
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