Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 64

March 5;    Galatians 5:24;     64/260(II);    ‘Crucifying the Flesh’

Galatians 5:24 And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

The New Testament Law is love.  When we learn from the Word of God how much we are loved and what the Lord Jesus did for us, we are humbled by the truth of the Word and become Born Again.  Salvation is the beginning of our walk with the Lord.  Many of us, until we learned the truth from the Word of God, had ideas about God the Father and Jesus that were not true.  Many thought we would go to heaven based on what we did.  Obeying all of the rules, helping others, giving to charitable organizations.  These things, in and of themselves are part of our relationship with the Lord, but these things do not earn us heaven.  Salvation could never be based on what we do, it is based solely on what Jesus did.  The Bible says this way no one can boast that our conduct on earth put the Father in a position where He was obligated to take us to heaven when we passed on.  Getting back to my original statement, the New Testament Law is love.  The Lord never wants us to obey the Word because of obligation.  He wants us to see how much we are loved and how He treated others and then do the same.  The Lord Jesus surely wants us to help others and do good works (Ephesians 2:10), but we do these good deeds because we care about others, not to try to ‘earn points’ with God the Father.  Giving to Christian churches or Ministries is very important.  We are to do this because we believe in what they are doing, not to show the Lord how generous we are.  Finally, we crucify our flesh by love.  Jesus Christ offered us eternal life and a blessed life here.  We can live a holy life by choice, based on our love for Jesus.