An End to Differences

Galatians 5:6 (TPT)

“When you’re placed into the Anointed One and joined to him, circumcision and religious obligations can benefit you nothing. All that matters now is living in the faith that is activated and brought to perfection by love.”

The early church was made up of Jews and Gentiles. The Jews, being the chosen people of God, sometimes pointed to circumcision and all their religious practices as somehow making them superior to the Gentiles, who had none of these things. Paul was telling them that this was silly. The church is different. It’s a place of unity in Christ. When we depend on Christ for our salvation and identity, nothing else matters. There are no outward signs that make us better than anyone else. All of us are depending on Christ for our salvation.

Outward religious signs, obligations, rituals…they’re all worthless. What counts is what’s in your heart. Are you living your life in faith? Do you have a faith that is active and working in your life? Do your deeds spring forth from the love you have for God, or are you doing them to earn something? Grace can not be earned. It is a freely offered gift. Grace can only be received.

So stop striving. Stop relying on works of the flesh to get you somewhere. Recognize that salvation and favor comes through grace, and we receive it by faith. We are all equals. We are all joined to Christ. Our identity is now linked to Him, and so our normal divisions of Jew/Gentile, slave/free, even male/female have no relevance to our relationship with God. All that matters is Christ in us.

Father, how beautiful it is to be a part of your body! How wonderful it is to be equals together, sharing in the finished work of Jesus, without divisions! Thank you that I don’t have to do outward demonstrations or feel obligated to do certain things or follow certain traditions. Thank you that I don’t have to have a “religious life.” Instead, God, I can embrace your grace and have a free life. When I place my faith in you and allow my deeds to flow out of my love for you and my desire to obey, I have an activated, living faith. That’s the kind of faith that pleases you. It’s not an outward thing. It’s a matter of the heart. Help me to remember this when I am tempted to rely on my own works. In Jesus’ name, Amen.