Law Person or God Person?

“What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man.” Galatians 2:19 - The Message

Who or what is at the center of your life?

I love the way Paul phrases his transformation in this passage. He quit being a law man so that he could be God’s man. I seems to me that Paul is admitting that following the rules used to be at the center of his life. In some ways, the rules became his god. Paul is saying, “enough with that.” Enough with having the rules as a god. The true God became his focus.

There is a unique blindness that Paul had, prior to his relationship in Christ. He says that he worked his head off at the rules in order to please God. What should have been his focus, God, was right in front of him, yet he made it hard for himself and tried to reach God through rules. He tried to please God, as if that was the only way he could have a relationship with God. Those rules were supposed to point us toward God, yet we enslave ourselves with them.

Do you ever feel like you need to please God in order to come to Him? I think it is in our nature to feel that way. We do it with people all the time. We sometimes feel like we need to please others in order for them to like us. Well, God is not like that. He wants people after His heart, not people after His rules.

Take a few moments and think about what things have been keeping you from reaching out to Jesus. Are any of your thoughts or actions telling you that you can’t come to Him?

Talk to Jesus about those things right now. Ask Him to free your minds from those imprisoning thoughts. Pray that nothing will keep you from your relationship with Jesus.