Your Ball!
Go!
Ironic how we do that in our Christian life ... sure, we are called to obedience, sure we are called to submission, and understanding God's sovereignty while allowing free-will can be a long chat over coffee ... yes we are called to act, move, go, and be doers of God's Word, not just listeners ...
But this can easily get confused with another ball being passed back and forth between two players, named Faith, and Works ...
We have this way of living that on one hand believes in the free gift of salvation through Faith ... yet once we receive that gift, we so easily can have this mentality that now I need to Work to keep it ... the church in Galatia was getting quite caught up in this with respect to the law, and Faith ...
'Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? ' - Galatians 3:2-3
Paul is simply reminding them that they were saved by faith, faith alone! Yet now that they are saved, they are trying to add on rules, judge others, and bring our their measuring sticks again ... as if to tell Jesus, "OK, thanks for saving me ... but now it's my ball ... it's up to me now ... " ... this was absurd thinking to Paul, and it should be to us ...
Be doers of the Word, act and don't be passive, and get into the game ... but it's not up to us now.
We were not saved by faith so we could earn our keep!
We are saved! So be saved ... act saved ... live saved ... do things as saved children ... speak things as saved children ... and bring His Light into this world as saved children ... but none of this earns our keep. We are His because we chose Him ... that is the only "work" that is ours to burden. If He allows us to shoot a basket, may we just continue to point back to Him in glory, and wait for another shot ... knowing that it is never "our ball" ...
So let us stumble forward in our journey to full devotion to Him ...
Lord, Your ball!
Matthew
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