For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.

Galatians 5:1-2 (ESV)

Each one of us have been set free in Christ. We were all bound to sin and chained to death. We were dead in our sins with no hope of salvation. Then Christ saved us and set us free from our sin and shame. He adopted us into the kingdom of God to be heirs of the Kingdom in Christ. To put it simply, we are alive! Ephesians tells us that God prepared us for good works now that we are in Christ. We are to go into the world and live out the righteousness we have been given according to 2 Corinthians 5. This is the good news of the Gospel. We haven’t just been saved from our sin, we haven’t just been given life, and we haven’t just been adopted. We have been given righteousness and freedom! So why would we bind ourselves to the Law? This is the question Paul poses in this passage. There was a group of people called the Judaizers who claimed that you had to be circumcised under the Old Testament Law in order to be saved. Paul completely rejects this. It is only by the grace and love of God that we are saved.

How many times do we feel like we have to earn something from God? Either earn our own salvation or earn his love or his approval? Many times, we feel as though if we do nothing, we disappoint God. If we don’t follow every word of his commands, we will somehow become less valuable to God. We need to realize that Christ has made us right in God’s eyes. We have been given righteousness through Christ that we cannot lose. You are a son or daughter of God and nothing can make you anything less in God’s eyes. You are his and there is nothing you can do to cause him to reject you if you have placed your faith in him.

This week, if you are a Child of God, trust in God for you righteousness. Follow him faithfully not because you have to but because you want to honor his sacrifice. If you are not a Child of God, repent and place your faith in him and he will adopt you into the Kingdom of God.