Is Jesus Enough?

 

“‭Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”

(Galatians 5:1, AV)

Paul preached a gospel so radical sometimes I think only he understood it. Here it is: Jesus Christ, and him crucified.  That's it. Immediately Paul faced opposition.  Religious parties said, "this is too easy, you can't possibly mean that trust in Christ  can be the only thing needed". The Galatians freely believed,  but then started to add special days and months. I get it. To the Religious crowd, it is offensive that man has no part to add. But Paul zealously defends their liberty, comparing their adding to the finished work of Christ to a "yoke of bondage".

Non-religious hearers of Paul jumped the opposite way. The Corinthians heard Paul and said "great.  We can be saved, but we don't need to make any changes. Let's party!". Also wrong. He tells the Romans that they died to sin. Will they continue sinning, that grace may abound? That's ridiculous.  The Freedom we have in Christ is no license to sin. 

Everything Paul wrote can be summed up in one verse, Galatians 2:20. Crucified with Him, we no longer live. The life we live in this body we live by the faith of the Son of God.  Conformed now, through to transformation of our minds,  to the image of Christ, we no longer have any desire to fulfill the lust of the flesh, Galatians 5:16. We are completely free. We do only what we want to do. However,  our desire has been changed.  We only want to do what we see Him doing. 

I've not actually met anyone who actually walks in complete freedom. It's a learning curve. 😌 

Each step of the way, Jesus, through the Holy Spirit,  is leading us. Every day His word to us is our daily bread. Let's then keep on hearing and growing "till we all come in the unity of the faith,  and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the fullness of Christ!"