| “Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit” (Galatians 6:18). |
| This is a very nice verse, and you may remember that we had one like it, away back in February. That verse was 2 Timothy 4:22, and expressed the Apostle Paul’s wish that “the Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit.” Today’s verse is similar, but a little different. |
| When we have a new life in Christ, and really want to please the Lord, we can be quite passionate about it, especially when we are young. This is all right, but sometimes in wanting to defend the Lord’s glory and stand up for what is right, we can allow our old sinful nature to act. We can forget that grace is the strongest force to keep us from sin. Then we may defend what is right, but perhaps do it in the wrong spirit. If this happens, what we say will not have the right effect on others. |
| Grace is the goodness of God that we do not deserve, and it is only because of the grace of God that any of us are saved. When we fully understand grace, we will not take a position of pride and look down on others. In the assemblies in Galatia, some were teaching them that they had to live the Christian life by a rule of law. But this kind of teaching always leads to pride, for then people make rules, and sometimes rules that are hard to follow. Then, when some people can keep the rules but others find it difficult, those who can keep them become proud. |
| Paul expresses a wish that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ would be with the spirit of those believers in Galatia, and we should want this too. The Lord Jesus was always faithful and stood firmly for what was right. He always had His Father’s glory before Him. But He did it in a way that commended itself to people’s consciences, for the Lord Jesus did not seek His own glory. When He said something, His spirit was always right. We should ask the Lord to help us act in the same way. When we understand grace, we want to follow the Lord Jesus and please Him because we love Him, not because we are obeying a rule. |
