Faith Through Love

DEVOTION
GALATIONS
FAITH THROUGH LOVE
Gal 5:3-6
3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.
There it is again. If I ever try to abide by one of the rules, I have to abide by every one of those rules. If I ascribe to the idea of trying to be a good Christian based on my observance of one set of correct behaviors and abstinence from another set of behaviors than I have in a sense alienated myself from Christ. I don’t think it causes me to fall from grace, but it sure is close. I know it is impossible to justify myself by trying to be a good Christian. Actually I despise that term. Either I am a Christian or not, I cannot be a good or a bad Christian because the only reason I am one is due to my faith is Jesus Christ. How could observance of anything add to that? If I started to believe my position in Christ was determined by following just one of those rules for good Christian behavior, than I would have to follow them all or I would be in danger of not being a good Christian. It just seems so simply. Now, I am no doubt obligated to a certain life because of my commitment to Christ. I am commanded to love my Lord God with all my heart, my mind, my soul and my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. That is, what I believe to be the whole of it. That is the center of the whole life of a believer. The rest of this passage says it so plainly.
5 But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Faith expressing itself through love is the whole of it. How can anything be added to that? If I love God with all of me, how can I do anything which would disappoint him? There is no question I should deny myself and follow him if I am expressing my faith through love. If I love my neighbor as myself, how could I do anything which would harm them in any way? In fact, how could I not do something which would benefit them? I am sure I do things that benefit me, so than I should also do that for others, if I am expressing my faith through love.