Today I enjoyed a visit from Carey Coffey the Executive Director of Teen Challenge of the Rocky Mountains. It was good to connect and hear of some reports of what is happening in the various programs. After lunch and a nap, I followed up on some job opportunities and got ready for an HOA Board meeting this evening. With the way my day went, I actually missed my normal workout routine.<\/p>\n
BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY\u2026.<\/strong> \u201cThe important thing is faith\u2014the kind of faith that works through love\u201d.<\/em> Galatians 5:6<\/p>\n Paul is confronting a false \u201cgood news\u201d<\/em> that was challenging the Galatians that related to the importance of following the law. The focal point of the contention was over circumcision. Circumcision was an important part of God\u2019s covenant with Abraham. It would be a physical\u00a0<\/em> sign of his offspring that would be as numerous as the stars. However, as a requirement for being right with God, it wasn\u2019t necessary.<\/p>\n As I consider this, I am reminded of the friendship connection I made with the wife of Denver\u2019s premier Rabbi. She was a State Senator and I supported her in maintaining funding for circumcision for children on Medicaid even though it was viewed by many as waste of money.<\/p>\n Outside of any present day medical pros and cons, we do know it is not an important matter when it comes to our spiritual life. We are \u201cmade right with God through faith in Christ and no obeying the law.\u201d<\/p>\n As Paul continues his discourse he says what really matters is, \u201cfaith, expressing itself through love.\u201d Our love for others is our faith in action. Faith does not result in arrogance, but in humble gratitude for what Christ has done for us. Some of the Galatians were missing the point and seemed to feel, \u201cgreat no law, no rules.\u201d Paul become emphatic he says,<\/p>\n God called you to be free, but do not use your freedom as an excuse to do what pleases your sinful self. Serve each other with love.<\/em> (Gal. 5:13)<\/p>\n Sin is self-centered, Christ is other-centered. The law brings people into bondage and discouragement, faith brings hope and freedom to serve Christ and others through love.<\/p>\n Faith in Christ allows the words of the prophet to be fulfilled, “This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the LORD: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”<\/em> (Heb. 10:16)<\/p>\n To this end Paul says, \u201cLive by following the Spirit. Then you will not do what your sinful selves want\u2026 But if the Spirit is leading you, you are not under the law.”<\/em> (Galatians 5:16-18)<\/p>\n God\u2019s Spirit in us, gives us the strength to do what the law is not able to do\u2026live right with God. And that \u201cseed\u201d<\/em> of the Spirit in our life produces a harvest of fruit,<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026the Spirit produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, \u00a0<\/sup>gentleness, self-control..Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their own sinful selves. They have given up their old selfish feelings and the evil things they wanted to do. We get our new life from the Spirit, so we should follow the Spirit.”<\/em> (Galatians 5:22-25)<\/p>\n Faith, hope and love\u2026that is what really matters, and that is what trust in Christ brings into our life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today I enjoyed a visit from Carey Coffey the Executive Director of Teen Challenge of the Rocky Mountains. It was good to connect and hear of some reports of what is happening in the various programs. After lunch and a nap, I followed up on some job opportunities and got ready for an HOA Board […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2250"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2252,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250\/revisions\/2252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}