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 Thoughts on a Monday…  

There are certain things that have always made sense to me, like numbers and arithmetic. When I was in middle school there was a mathematics competition in our school’s UIL academic district. The students would practice for more than a month to get ready to compete. I remember my math teacher coming to me the day before the competition and asking me to fill out their team because an alternate had backed out. I was a little nervous because I had never seen the material before, but she assured me that if I did compete, I would only need to try my best. Sure enough, the next day we traveled to the school that was hosting the competition and they needed me to “get in the game!”  

My biggest advantage was the fact that I knew that I was not expected to do well, having never seen the material before, and I was not nearly as nervous as the other kids. I remember sitting in a classroom with about 30 other kids. They passed out the material and started the timer. After it was all said and done, I went to the gym to get some pizza and a Dr. Pepper, not even worried about what my score could’ve been! Much to my surprise, my teacher/mathematics coach had been frantically trying to track me down. Apparently when the scores came out, I had placed second and earned a silver medal!  

How? To this day I have no idea! All I can think is that I had no expectations of even coming close to winning, and that allowed me to be calm and just do perform to the best of my ability. I think that there is a lesson in that. Christ came into this world to take the pressure off of us. There is no way that we could ever measure up to the standard that was set forth in the law. We were never meant to. The law was given to the Israelites to give them insight to the infallible and sovereign nature of the one true God. Galatians 3:19 says, “Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come.”  

Sin separated us from God. The law was given for our benefit in order to point us back to the righteousness of God. When Jesus came on the scene, he fulfilled that righteousness (Matthew 5:17). By putting our faith in Him, we take the pressure off ourselves. You cannot do enough. Period. There isn’t any amount of money that you can put in the offering plate that will ever be enough. There are no amount of good deeds or service projects that will ever be enough. There is not a certain amount of Sunday morning worship services that you have to be present for in order to make you acceptable to Him. All of these things are a by-product of the faith that we have in Him!

Earlier in that same chapter of Galatians, Paul said this: “The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, ‘The person who does these things will live by them.’ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.’ He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.” (Gal. 3:12-13)  

Don’t you see? The pressure is off! We have been set free from the law to live in the grace and freedom of Christ because of what He did on the cross! Because of that, we have something a whole lot better in store for us than a silver or gold medal! We have an eternity of happiness with Him!  

Have a great week!  

-Jason