Righteous Expectations
Galatians 2:16
Saturday , March 3rd
A commercial air-conditioning technician is at his second week on the job . His supervisor tasks him with diagnosing their largest rooftop unit , the Intellipak ! The technician climbs up the ladder to the roof of the building , goes to the unit , opens up the panels and is immediately overwhelmed . Before him are hundreds of feet worth of wire , circuit boards , relays , contactors and so much more . Terrified , he gets out his tools and begins checking every piece . Frantically , he tries to find out why the unit is not cooling . He is worried that if he doesn ’ t find the problem soon enough they won ’ t let him work again . After 10 minutes he hasn ’ t found a single problem . His supervisor sees how stressed out he is and yells to him , “ Calm down , stop trying so hard !”
You might not be an air-conditioning technician but have you ever felt that way before with God ’ s law ? You hear over and over all the demands and commandments God asks of you to do and not to do . You try so hard to be a good Christian and rule follower . But soon you become distraught with fear and anxiety . You don ' t always do what God demands and commands . You begin to see your failings and think , “ God will never accept me or my attempts at keeping his laws .” It ’ s time to give up your righteous expectations that you can be perfect on your own . It ' s not because we are pretty good people or do some pretty good things that we can stand before God . It ' s not what we do that gives us a clean slate with God . We can ' t fulfill God ' s law perfectly and completely . We need someone else . That someone else is Christ . Our faith and trust are in him . He has fulfilled God ’ s law perfectly and completely . Now , through faith in Christ we are credited with his righteousness and his holiness .
That changes the way we live . We stop trying to be perfect because Jesus lived perfectly for us . He has earned salvation for us . We live with confidence and trust in Christ who has made us holy . We live our lives in thankfulness for what he has done . We let God ' s law and commandments guide our lives because he has filled our hearts with gratitude . We want to do what he wants and not do what he doesn ' t want . And sometimes when we ' re overwhelmed and forget , remember the work of Christ . He came to be perfect in your place . That ' s your comfort and your peace . His work has made you holy and righteous in the eyes of God .
Prayer : Gracious Lord , calm our hearts and fill us with peace knowing that your Son has justified us not by our works but by his perfect life and innocent death . Amen .
Activity : Name three laws that you are especially thankful for that Jesus obeyed perfectly for you .
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