“You who are trying to gain and maintain a relationship by your obedience to God’s law have been alienated from Christ—you have ‘fallen from grace’. For the Holy Spirit t gives us faith to trust Christ for the gift of his righteousness and to eagerly await the Day we will become fully like Christ”. Paraphrase of Galatians 5:4-5
Dear Jesus, how sobering and critical to understand: “Falling from grace” isn’t jumping into immorality; it’s sliding into legalism. It’s trading the Gospel of grace for the arrogance of trying to be our own savior. In the realm of “certifiable insanity”—this tops the list. Because …
If I maintain a daily regimen of Bible reading, Scripture memorization, and quiet times, but don’t really believe the Gospel, I am a disciplined unbeliever.
If I am scrupulous to avoid evil—even the appearance of evil, but don’t trust you to be 100% of my righteousness, I am, as they say, “lost as a goose.”
If I should go on short term missions trips every month, work for justice in my community, and give a big portion of my income to the poor, yet don’t trust the Gospel-plus-nothing for my salvation, that makes me a generous altruistic infidel.
If I weep many tears of sadness over my sin—and earnestly try to do more and try harder, but do not rest in you as my forgiveness and righteousness, I am only a tearful pagan.
If I am in church every time the doors are open but am not “in Christ”—I am quite religious, but also quite unsaved.
Jesus, if we have never truly believed the Gospel, may this be the day. If we have been “backsliding” into performance-based spirituality—rescue us quickly. You are our perfect Savior, not our second chance. Hallelujah, and So Very Amen.
