Gems worth pondering
March 4
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."
(Ephesians 2:8,9)
Galatianism. The attempt to mingle law and grace. Galatianism takes many forms, but sooner or later it always ends up in a meaningless contradiction: "God's grace has made it possible for man to work for His acceptance and forgiveness" or "God loves us unconditionally if we keep all the rules." Law is the realm of what you earn by your performance. Grace is the realm of receiving a free gift. How could you ever mingle the two?
Imagine if a friend came up to you one day and said, "I'm going to give you a car! Absolutely free, for only $1000."
"Wait a minute," you say." "Did you say you're going to give me a car for free, or for $1000?"
"That's right," he says. "Absolutely free, for only $1000!"
That's gibberish! The word "free" by definition means with no payment due at all. You can't work for a gift, or it's not a gift. Even a payment of $1 takes it out of the realm of a gift. A gift is not a gift unless it is free. (Bob George)
N.J. Hiebert # 3633
March 5
"And he (Saul) trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" (Acts 9:6)
The most harmful mistake we make concerning time is to think that it has somehow a mysterious power to perfect human nature and change the human personality. We say of a foolish young man, "Time will make him wiser," or we see a new Christian acting like anything but a Christian and hope that time will someday turn him into a saint. The truth is that time has no more power to sanctify a man than space has. Indeed, time is only a fiction by which we account for change. It is a transformation, not time, that turns fools into wise men and sinners into saints, Christ bringing it about by means of the changes he works in the heart!
Saul the persecutor became Paul the servant of God, but time did not make the change. Christ wrought the miracle, the same Christ who once changed water into wine. One spirtual experience followed another in fairly rapid succession until the violent Saul became a gentle, God-enamoured soul, ready to lay down his life for the faith he once hated. It should be obvious that time had no part in the making of the man of God!
Human nature is not fixed and for this we should thank God day and night! We are still capable of change. We can become something other than what we are. By the power of the gospel the covetous man may become generous, the egotist lowly in his own eyes. The thief may learn to steal no more, the blasphemer to fill his mouth with praises unto God. (A.W. Tozer - Renewed Day By Day)
N.J. Hiebert # 3634
March 6
"Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all."
(James 2:10)
What man loves the Lord his God with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength (Deuteronomy 6:5) ? Who loves his neighbour as himself? If a man sees a house on fire, who hopes it is his own house that is burning, and not his neighbour's? Who has never coveted something that is not his? Every honest man knows that he never has, and never can, keep these commands. But the law is like a mighty chain. If you break one link, the whole chain is broken. But "Cursed is every one who does not remain constantly in all the things written in the book of the law to do them." (Deuteronomy 27:26).
Every man, woman and child who has ever lived (except our Lord), must come under that curse if he puts himself under law. Remember, not only can the law not bless, neither can it forgive. All the law can do to man is to curse him, and to condemn him. The law said, "This do, and thou shalt live." (Luke 10:28; See also Leviticus 18:5). But no man yet, except our Lord Jesus Christ, could claim life by this method; so we read in the Old Testament: "The just, or righteous man, shall live on the principle of faith" (Habakkuk 2:4). (G.C. Willis - Meditations on Galatians)
N.J. Hiebert # 3635
