Against the law

Paul wrote to the church in Galatia:
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods. Now, however, that you have come to know God, or rather be known by God, how can you turn bac again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits?"

That's a bunch of big ol words to say "how can you continue to mess up even though you know the creator of the universe on a personal level?"

Good question.

This notion of "elemental spirits" might refer to all sorts of things, but it probably meant the idea that in the ancient world the movement of stars and planets were thought to be controlled by spirits. In a larger sense, what it means is now that you truly know God, how can you fall back on legends and myths and those things that yo mama taught that simply weren't true.

Cleanliness is next to Godliness is a fine example of good thoughts but not in the Bible thoughts.

My mama believed in that so well she could have had stock in cleaning chemicals.

But it's not Biblical.

This notion that you can transform yourself, make yourself good enough to be "right" with God is a fine thought, but not Biblical.

ou simply need a savior. That savior is Jesus. Jesus is the answer to those problems. None other. Knowing God should help you to understand that, but sometimes, like the Galatian church, we fall back. That gives us guilt. That gives us pain. That gives us a feeling of being unworthy.

Paul says over and over that the law can not save you. If it could, he reasons, there was no possibly reason for Christ to have died.

Believe it and life, abundantly. Try to live by the law and you will only feel the lack of freedom, not the grace by which God wants you to live. That's Biblical.