Faith Working through Love

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Redemption
Fruits of Redemption

Galatians 5:2-6

The Message

 ^2-3I am emphatic about this. The moment any one of you submits to circumcision or any other rule-keeping system, at that same moment Christ's hard-won gift of freedom is squandered. I repeat my warning: The person who accepts the ways of circumcision trades all the advantages of the free life in Christ for the obligations of the slave life of the law. ^4-6I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.

For Reflection

"Faith expressed in love."

My wife and I decided to have a sandwich for dinner at a local bar.    We were seated next to the pool tables.  The bar was a local pub where people went after work to have a beer and play a little pool.  Some women and men even brought their own pool cues.

Both of us were dressed for work when business casual was not always the code.  We both ordered water and hamburgers.  One of the men playing pool missed a shot and expressed his disappointment vulgarly.  He turned toward my wife and  I and apologized.  It was as though I had "PREACHER" tattooed on my forehead.

I have noticed others responding to me in an almost instant rapport.  Could it be that God's grace is visible on those of faith?  It doesn't always happen that way. Could it be that God needed to let his grace flow.  I bet you have experienced this same sort of thing.

Pray
that you will not limit your response to life to following the rules.  Confess your deviations from the rules and from expressions of love.  Know that you are forgiven and God will use you life in the realization of His kingdom.  Hallelujah!