Faith or Observance of the Law

Spend time reading and marking up Gal 3:1-14

1You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? 3Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? 4Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? 5Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?
6Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." 7Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. 8The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you." 9So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
10All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” 11Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith."12The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, "The man who does these things will live by them." 13Christ 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 tree." 14He 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.

Questions:
Do you believe that you are clean by Jesus’ blood, and his blood alone?
What does it mean that Abraham’s belief was credited to him as righteousness?
What does it mean to believe?

Things to reflect on:
Paul says it is impossible to follow the law—and some of us may identify with this, because it is really hard to live the right way by our own effort. We need God to help us out and in that spirit— Maybe we need a new perspective on the application and living out of our faith. Instead of thinking of it as “applying the Word,” per se, try thinking of it as having faith in God—because, as Paul tells us here, the righteous will live by faith.
Now, what does it mean to live by faith? Faith is certainly not restricted to knowing that God exists, etc.—if that were the case, Satan would have more ‘faith’ than us, because he knows all too well that God exists. No—faith is something which is not passive but active, not static but living and dynamic. Belief is certainly one element of it. But the essential, active part of faith is a conscious surrender to God, a decision to give our entire selves to him, a decision to trust God first with our salvation, and secondly with the transformation of our lives.
In other words, God’s word is best applied through surrender. To live a holy life, we must choose to surrender our entire lives to God and to actively trust him—and surrender can’t be done halfway—God doesn’t want just one part of your life, he demands you trust him with the whole thing. But once we give ourselves to God and fall into his endless love, grace, and mercy, it’s easy. The living starts with the relationship. As Jesus said:

Are you…burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life…walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly. –Matthew 11:28-30, The Message

Monday: Pray for your relationship with God
Ask God to show you what he is calling for you to do.