October 22

Deliverance 

So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”  ––Galatians 3: 9-10 

Do we have a clear understanding of Christianity or have we missed the mark throughout the ages in what God is communicating?

In the last part of this scripture we see that without being completely delivered from the works of the law we are all doomed. In our mind’s eye, “completely delivered” should mean this: unless we have accepted the fact that we can’t deliver ourselves from any sin and the sinful condition we’re wired to, we are doomed. 

From a Christian Evangelical radio station I heard these words recently: “Enough of this hyper grace preaching and back to sincere repentance.” Am I missing the motivation of this statement? 

We can certainly agree motivation is different for different people. Some are motivated by the Nike slogan, “Just Do It.” No forethought, just do it. Others are motivated by forethought.

We ask ourselves, after reading the New Testament, what kind of heart is God motivated by as we live our lives before Him? As a father, if your child brought your shoes to you all cleaned and polished without you asking them to, which motivation is most rewarding: because the child was commanded to do this, or because they wanted to? Is the Christian life all about me and my failure to keep the law, or about God and His deliverance of us from it? 

That’s the essence of the word deliverance: We cannot deliver ourselves into spiritual correctness. Only God makes the crooked paths straight and takes the broken hearts—yours, mine, every man’s—and makes them whole and healed. It’s a sum-everything game: Jesus plus nothing equals deliverance. Not Jesus plus our good works … not Jesus minus our faults. Ask yourself the same question Jesus asked the paralytic man at the Pool of Bethesda: “Do you want to be healed?”

If your answer is yes, then pick up your proverbial pallet and go. Choose Him and you choose healing. Where there’s a “want” there’s a Way.

Father, thank You for Your complete deliverance. Wow!