¹⁵ “You and I are Jews by birth, not ‘sinners’ like the Gentiles. ¹⁶ Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.”

¹⁷ But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not! ¹⁸ Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down. ¹⁹ For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. ²⁰ My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.

Galatians 2:15-21

Dear God, the last sentence of verse 16 is what is really catching me this morning: “For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.” It’s a reminder for me that the law is for me and not you. I am disconnected from you because of the sin of my heart, and that sin is the decisions I make to be my own God, not love you with everything I have and not love my neighbors. All of the little pieces of the law are for my good and my benefit, but what disconnects me from you is something much more in my core. It is my selfishness that simply walks away from you (notice I kept “walks” in the present tense and not the past tense because I still do it continuously).

I think about Peter’s denial of Jesus, which I spent a lot of time with last week. But what I’m thinking about isn’t the sin of self-preservation over loving you. I’m thinking about Jesus telling him in Luke 22:31-31, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have burned back, strengthen your brothers.” Jesus’s sacrifice and forgiveness would keep Peter whole with you. Jesus was calling on Peter to take that humility from the moment and use that, not his pride or strength, to strengthen the others disciples.

Father, I make many mistakes. I fail a lot. I’ve failed others many times. Be glorified in me. Help me, Father, to show your love to others through my weakness so that you might be glorified. I offer this simple life. And I also ask for your mercy on some friends I saw yesterday in a retirement home. It was sad. It was sad to see some really competent people from earlier in life look so frail and diminished. I don’t know the path for them, but please be merciful in it. My heart is heavy for what will happen in the world today. Be merciful in that as well. Please guide the leaders of the world and hold us close to yourself even though we sin so greatly.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen