The apostle Paul wrote, “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” (Galatians 3:1-3). Paul saw these Galatians falling into the trap of legalism.
It seems that we all would like to have something to boast about when we get to heaven. We would like to tell people all we did for the Lord, all the sacrifices we’ve made and how good we are. How through perseverance, hard work, diligence and hours of prayer, we made it to heaven. But God will not allow any flesh to glory in His sight. The Bible says, “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols” (Isaiah 42:8).
Paul was a Pharisee, and he understood that the law was given to make the whole world guilty before God; that by the works of the law no one will be justified in His sight, and that by the law is the knowledge of sin (cf. Romans 3:19-20).
The law shows us how horribly unrighteous and guilty we are, so that we will cast ourselves totally upon God’s grace and mercy through Jesus Christ. When we stand before His throne, we can only say, “God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of Jesus Christ.” The great thing about salvation through Jesus Christ is that any person can receive it, Jesus doesn’t exclude anyone. All you have to do is believe (cf. Romans 10:13).
God does not want a legal relationship with mankind. He wants a loving relationship with us. He could have made us all a bunch of robots and forced us to serve him, but that is not a loving relationship, it’s a legal or forced relationship. God doesn’t need for you to do things for Him, but if we love Him with all our hearts we will want to serve Him.
God wants us to give our life to Him. Paul wrote, “They gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will” (2 Corinthians 8:5). God wants you to surrender your life completely to Him so that He can show you how much He loves you by lavishing His love upon you.
God desires that we live in fellowship with Him. God created us so that we might enjoy and be blessed by living in communion and fellowship with Him. If we love God supremely it is only natural that we would want to spend as much time with Him as possible. When you love someone you desire to be with them and when you are apart, you are thinking about them all the time. That’s the kind of love that God wants from us, a love where we are fellowshipping with Him and thinking about Him all the time.
After we have given ourselves to Him, we are still aware of our weaknesses and failures, and we know that they are not pleasing to God. Instead of being frustrated by these failures, we can bring them to the Lord and say, “Lord, I need your help. There is no way I can live to please You without Your help.”
When the Lord helps us, then all we can do is to give the glory to Him, who did for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. Our failures do not mean that we are lost and destined for hell. The very fact that you have the desire to live for God, and that there is a war going on between the flesh and the Spirit indicates that the Holy Spirit is working in your life and that you are a child of God.
When our spirit comes alive through faith in Jesus Christ, immediately the war between the flesh and Spirit begins. As we continue trusting and believing in the Lord, He brings to pass the changes within our life. But it isn’t by our process of driving the darkness out.
Have you ever tried to drive the darkness out of a room? You can command it, yell at it, and beat it with a stick, but you can’t drive the darkness out. But you can flip a switch and turn on a light, and immediately the darkness is dispelled.
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).
So often we become frustrated when we realize how tough it is for us to change ourselves. What we need to do is to allow the light of Jesus Christ to shine within us, and He will change us. But only if we allow Him into our lives.
Jude wrote, “Keep yourself in the love of God” (Jude 1:21). What does that mean? Keep yourself in that place where God can do for you all that He longs to do because He loves you so much. Keep yourself in that place of blessing.
We all need to spend more quality time in prayer and Bible study so that we can know the will of God for our lives (cf. Romans 12:2). Jesus said, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). The way you live your life shows what you really are.
Worshipping and serving God is a matter of choice. We sing, “I will serve You because I love You.” That’s what God wants, loving fellowship and service from us.