do not set aside the grace of God

the book of galatians is steadily becoming engraved into my heart and mind. it’s the book of the bible that the pseudo college and career group at my church has been delving into for the past several months, and i would venture to say that it has been reshaping my thinking more than any other study i’ve ever been involved in.

the premise of galatians is as follows: the apostle paul writes a letter to the church in galatea, reprimanding them for believing in a twisted version of the gospel that is being promoted by the more “religious” judaizers. he reminds them of the grace God showed them by sending His Son to die for their sins; because of that grace, they are now heirs with Christ, and they are no longer bound to the law.

it’s obvious that paul is frustrated. my observation of that tells me that paul feels pretty strongly about this whole twisting-the-gospel thing. the purity of the true gospel is important to him, and he won’t allow for its perversion (as seen in chapter 2, when paul blatantly calls out peter for being a hypocrite).

the verse that keeps grinding itself into my heart is galatians 2:21: “i do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”

i can’t get over the power behind that statement. essentially, the galatians were buying into the notion that they had to tack on “good works” and other religious things to their faith in order to obtain salvation. initially, this appears to be noble, but upon further scrutiny, it’s wickedly selfish. when i convince myself that i must observe certain religious practices or avoid the unholy to make myself worthy of God’s favor, i am basically communicating that Jesus’s death on the cross wasn’t enough. in essence, it was completely worthless.

i could argue forever that that’s not what i believe. if i truly believed in the gospel, then i would not care so much about standards and religion and appearances. if i genuinely understood the significance of Jesus’s tremendous sacrifice, then i would also come to terms with the wickedness of my sin – this sin that cannot be in the presence of a perfectly holy God, that nothing i could ever do or not do could erase. and sin is sin, no matter how innocent we may convince ourselves it is.

“for whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (james 2:10). if this is the case, then what hope do i have? “who will deliver me from this body of death? i thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (romans 7:24-25). what a beautiful truth; Jesus Christ has taken the punishment upon Himself, “having become a curse for us” (galatians 3:13). the most humble thing i can possibly do is accept His grace, embrace the incredible and overwhelmingly undeserved gift He has offered to me. rejecting it out of some conjectured “humility” is bitterly selfish at the core.

my redemption from sin should penetrate every aspect of my life, for without Christ, i would have no life. no purpose, no hope. it is easy to set the gospel aside and turn to things that are “less basic” and “more mature.” it is becoming increasingly apparent to me how silly that is; the gospel of Jesus Christ is everything. how could i ever set it aside? sadly, i do this every day – forget about His death and resurrection, about why i can even have a relationship with God in the first place. and that is frightening to me, and so completely human of me. what i desire is less of me and more of Him in my life. “He must increase, but i must decrease” (john 3:30).