Word for Today, Mon, 02 Sep 2002: Christ has set us free!
Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>
To begin a new week, I would like to share with you some
scripture from the Bible book of Galatians. For those of you who
are familiar with this passage, this one comes from a relatively
new and unfamiliar translation. I offer it to you, not because
it is more accurate, but simply with the prayer that it will
cause you to think about the scriptures, dig into the
translation that is most comfortable to you, personally, and
embrace the Word of God wholeheartedly.
My prayer for today and for this week is that each of us will
honestly turn to God for the answers to all of our issues, not
just when we're looking for yet another confirming, feel good
experience. Our hope doesn't come from the things in the world -
many of us have lost hope in such things anyway. Our hope comes
from Christ - we know what God is like when we know Christ
personally.
Your Brother in Christ,
Brian
____________________________________________________________
September 2, Galatians 5.1-26
Christ Gives Freedom
1 Christ has set us free! This means we are really free. Now hold
on to your freedom and don't ever become slaves of the Law
again.
2 I, Paul, promise you that Christ won't do you any good if you
get circumcised. 3 If you do, you must obey the whole Law. 4
And if you try to please God by obeying the Law, you have cut
yourself off from Christ and his wonderful kindness. 5 But the
Spirit makes us sure that God will accept us because of our
faith in Christ. 6 If you are a follower of Christ Jesus, it
makes no difference whether you are circumcised or not. All
that matters is your faith that makes you love others.
7 You were doing so well until someone made you turn from the
truth. 8 And that person was certainly not sent by the one who
chose you. 9 A little yeast can change a whole batch of dough,
10 but you belong to the Lord. That makes me certain that you
will do what I say, instead of what someone else tells you to
do. Whoever is causing trouble for you will be punished.
11 My friends, if I still preach that people need to be
circumcised, why am I in so much trouble? The message about
the cross would no longer be a problem, if I told people to be
circumcised. 12 I wish that everyone who is upsetting you
would not only get circumcised, but would cut off much more!
13 My friends, you were chosen to be free. So don't use your
freedom as an excuse to do anything you want. Use it as an
opportunity to serve each other with love. 14 All that the Law
says can be summed up in the command to love others as much as
you love yourself. 15 But if you keep attacking each other
like wild animals, you had better watch out or you will
destroy yourselves.
God's Spirit and Our Own Desires
16 If you are guided by the Spirit, you won't obey your selfish
desires. 17 The Spirit and your desires are enemies of each
other. They are always fighting each other and keeping you
from doing what you feel you should. 18 But if you obey the
Spirit, the Law of Moses has no control over you . 19
People's desires make them give in to immoral ways, filthy
thoughts, and shameful deeds. 20 They worship idols, practice
witchcraft, hate others, and are hard to get along
with. People become jealous, angry, and selfish. They not only
argue and cause trouble, but they are 21 envious. They get
drunk, carry on at wild parties, and do other evil things as
well. I told you before, and I am telling you again: No one
who does these things will share in the blessings of God's
kingdom.
22 God's Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind,
good, faithful, 23 gentle, and self-controlled. There is no
law against behaving in any of these ways. 24 And because we
belong to Christ Jesus, we have killed our selfish feelings
and desires. 25 God's Spirit has given us life, and so we
should follow the Spirit. 26 But don't be conceited or make
others jealous by claiming to be better than they are.
Scripture made available by the American Bible Society for the
Year of the Bible Project. These passages are from the
Contemporary English Version of the Bible. For more information
call: 1.888.324.2535 or contact us through this web site.
-
Year of the Bible
Hosted by Gospel Communications Network
Report problems to webmaster@yob.org
=====
--
Brian Masinick, mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: http://www.geocities.com/masinick/
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes
finance.yahoo.com