Galatians 3:3
In Galatians 3, Paul is explaining to the Christians in Galatia that it’s not about following the law that makes us free.
Some Jewish converts to Christianity in Antioch were telling the Gentile Christians the men had to be circumcised if they wanted to be true Christians. They were trying to make it a condition of salvation.
They were teaching this because under the law of the Old Testament, God told all Jewish men to be circumcised.
Paul was explaining that it was no longer necessary to live according to the law.
Once Christ came the Old Testament law was fulfilled by His life, death, burial, and resurrection. Therefore it no longer applied.
Then Paul brought the point home when he asked the question:
Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? Galatians 3:3 NIV
In other words, you know it’s grace that saves you by having faith in Christ and what He did for you at Calvary. Why are you now trying to use your works and your actions to make it happen?
The truth is we can’t.
Salvation is only given to us by us having faith in Jesus, not by anything else we do.
No matter what we do, we can never be “good enough” to earn our way in to Heaven.
It doesn’t work that way.
As I was reading this verse I thought about how we as humans often try to make things happen, not just concerning salvation but also in our lives and the lives of others.
We try to “help” God.
As Christians, it is our place to pray and ask God to help in and with a situation and then to trust Him, believing by faith that He will take care of it.
When we try to make it happen, we are using human effort (a work of the flesh).
This doesn’t mean we are supposed to sit back and do nothing.
It means we pray about it as often as it comes up, thank God He’s working on it, and then listen for Him to prompt us to act.
We don’t try to “fix it”, facilitate it, or do/say things so it will happen.
Doing that is not knowing our place and trying to play God.
Our place is praying, trusting, and waiting for God to move and waiting for God to invite us in to participate.
When we do that, we put ourselves in a place of submission and trust.
This is what faith is all about – trusting God to take care of the things we see need help without trying to take it into our own hands.
It takes prayer, wisdom, and patience, but if we will step back out of the way and trust God to move in the situation so it will happen His way, it will turn out best.
It may not turn out exactly as we think or hope, but it will turn out much better than we can ask, hope, or imagine.
No matter what you’re facing today, put it in God’s hands through prayer and trust.
Step back and watch to see what God does with it.
It will be so worth it.
I promise.
The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and He helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise Him. Psalm 28:7 NIV
20 Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, 21 to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21 NIV