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As we continue to uphold in prayer the Public Relations department at Moody, please mention Colleen Currat, Timothy Hein, Jennifer Stocks, and Shannon Whisler during your time with God. Ask for the encouragement from the Holy Spirit in their daily responsibilities.
TODAY IN THE WORDFive-year-old Jason announced that he wanted to grow carrots in a corner of the garden. He dutifully watered his carrot patch, and his mom bought fertilizer. But no carrots emerged. As they puzzled over the absent carrots, his mom asked, “Jason, when did you put the seeds in?” “I forgot about seeds!” he exclaimed. “But–I thought if I watered and fed it right, the carrots could still grow!”
Just as the ground doesn’t spontaneously produce carrots, our hearts cannot spontaneously produce obedience without fundamental change.
Yesterday we saw that faith in Christ as expressed by love does not stand in opposition to the Law. We explored Paul’s image of the child placed under a guardian. Yet Paul would find a fault in our illustration. The fundamental problem we overlooked concerns the child. While the guardian’s job was to train the child for maturity, it could not actually create the inner change necessary to achieve this goal. This failure was not due to a flaw in the guardian, but to one in the child–the sinful nature.
To see this, we need to understand Paul’s claim that the sinful nature opposes the Spirit (v. 17). “Sinful nature” refers to that inward tendency to rebel against God. This universal problem plagued Jews and Gentiles alike (see 4:22). The Law was given as the standard for the Jews to obey. With obedience came blessing; with disobedience came a curse (see Deut. 30:15–20).
Paul notes that because of sin, the Law could not be obeyed and always brought a curse (see Gal. 5:10). The Law was good. The child was bad. No amount of correcting by the Law could change the fundamental problem. The situation seemed hopeless. How would the child ever become the adult heir?
TODAY ALONG THE WAYThough we are well into the season of the church calendar called Pentecost, today is a good day to think back to Easter and our celebration of what Christ did for us through His death and resurrection. He redeemed us! He made it possible for us to be free from sin! He brought hope to hearts that could never become children of God on their own.
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