Spread it

I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ. (Galatians 3:5 NLT)

Does God give you the Holy Spirit AND work miracles among you? Yes, he does. How do we know this? We hear the message, we receive the messenger, and then we become the message and the messenger! The work of grace within us brings a new message into our lives and it results in a new message coming forth from our lives. Our behavior changes - the message becomes clearer. We are called to bring the message in word, but most importantly, in our actions!

The message must be clear. We cannot dilute it because Christ did not dilute his grace when he poured it into our lives. We don't make grace more 'palatable' - it has a way of working just as it is. Those who haven't heard of his grace don't need to hear it in some 'namby-pamby' way or 'refined' to their taste. They need to hear it as pure, unadulterated truth! Truth is only truth when it is reported factually. Nothing short of God's truth will ever truly change a life.

The message gives hope to those who have tried other solutions to assuage their guilt or shame. The more we 'try' the ways of 'religion', the more we find it never really solves the problem of our sin nature. We need Christ to do that. Religion alone will never bring lasting change. No one can be 'made right' by keeping the 'works' of religion. The way INTO grace must be shown through positive example. The one who has been attempting to 'live righteous' knows there is no power behind their actions, but they keep trying.

The message is that the power to live righteous lives doesn't exist apart from Christ in us. We all fall short of living right until his power make us right and helps us make right choices. The message is not that WE have to do it. It is that we need to trust that HE has already done it! The power comes as the Holy Spirit indwells us. (vs. 14) We cannot bring a more positive or hope filled message than the one that points to Christ. We are his ambassadors - spread that message far and near. The Holy Spirit will be the one who energizes our words and actions so that others will have a desire for Christ's presence in their own lives. We MUST share the message of grace. This is OUR calling. Just sayin!