2/28/23

Grace vs. Legalsism

Today I was doing a little reading in the Bible's book of Numbers.  In my opinion a bit of a snooze-fest.  Even so, I was struck by ALL of the rules and guidelines that went around the "Tent of Meeting" - the place that the Israelites could "meet with God".

WOW!

From the decorations and placement of all of the items within the tent, to the many rituals the Israelites had to follow in order to cleanse themselves of sin, there was so much STUFF.  It's no wonder they kept failing.  

But when Adam and Eve chose to reject God, they let sin into the world, and then God had to show us that in this state we could never be good enough or do enough to make us worthy of eternal life with Him.  

This fact that is counter-culture because we live in a world where success and favor is earned. We get MORE by doing better...but that's not the way it is with God.  With God, all sin is equal, and all of it means death.  

So how does a loving God enable a relationship with those he created, whose sin would forever keep them from Him?  Jesus.  

Jesus is God in human form, He came to Earth to live the life He wanted for us, then allowed himself to be killed as an atonement for our sins.   

While every other religion talks about things believers must do - Christianity tells us WE CAN'T, and the only way back to God is through a believe in the one who did it for us.  With Jesus there is no DO, only DONE.

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