THE POCKET TESTAMENT LEAGUE DEVOTION

​"The Freedom to Live!" Galatians 3:11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith."
Thoughts for Today: Faith is what made Abraham pleasing to God. (Hebrews 11:6: "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.") Unfortunately, the Jews missed this point. For generations they had misinterpreted and misunderstood Scripture. They believed that the physical descendants of Abraham were the only heirs of his blessing and therefore God's covenant. Throughout this section of Scripture, Paul has been correcting this line of thinking with an insightful interpretation of the Old Testament. He has said that anyone (Jew or Gentile) who places his or her faith in Christ is the true child of Abraham, regardless of whether by birth or not. It is a heritage of faith.

In our previous passage, Paul went on to say that anyone who relies on the Law is cursed. And in our passage today, Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4: "See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright—but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness." In other words, faith is what imparts and empowers spiritual life, not works of the Law. The emphasis is living -- "live by faith".

This is the area in which so many Christians go wrong -- they forget to live. Works of the law show us our inadequacies, failings and shortcomings. The work of grace allows us the freedom to truly live joyfully, passionately, and faithfully.
Questions to Ponder: The Christian experience should not be to do more, do it better, and do it with greater fervency. Are you trapped in that cycle or are you truly free? The righteous will live by faith!