Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Week 1 (Hope): Born to Bless The Nations



The passage from Galatians today is long and it’s hard to wrap your mind around what the hell Paul is trying to say outside of its context... (Galatians 3: 7-29)

He’s writing to Jews in this passage. Jews who are confused about what made them acceptable to God. Jews who had spent hundreds of years believing in a sort of spiritual feudal economy... they inherited God’s love and Grace by birthright (kinda like a prince) and lost access to it by breaking the rules (the law). It was a system of inheritance, entitlement and responsibility. It’s not all that different from much of the way Christianity is practiced in America. You inherit your standing in a local church by birth (your parents take you) and you learn all the rules and things your supposed to believe and say (the law). As a result you are entitled to God’s favor and forgiveness.

But the way Jesus “blessed the nations” was to crush all of that. To usher in a era of generosity, grace and gratitude. He does this by acknowledging that we are not entitled to His thrown by inheritance (all of that ‘not seeds but seed' talk) and we have not measured up to earn it through behavior (all of that law talk). Instead we are loved simply because God loves us. Because He Chooses too. Period.

And it’s not just for the Jew but for all mankind - thank God because I am definitely not Jewish.

All we need to do is believe and respond with gratitude.

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