READ: Galatians 2:20-21
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

REFLECT: In the story we looked at Sunday (Acts 15:1-21), the church needed settle on their central message. On one side was Peter who said it, “through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved.” (15:11) And on the other side were the Jewish Christians who said “unless you are circumcised, …you cannot be saved.” (15:1) The options were “Jesus” or “Jesus Plus.” Peter, Paul and James persuaded those gathered that faith in Jesus was all that was needed to become a Christian. It was settled, or so it seemed.

Sometime later, though, Peter relapsed (Galatians 2:11-16). He was eating all his meals with the Gentiles, until some of the hard core types, the Jesus Plus people came to town. Then he turned his back on the Gentile Christians and decided to keep kosher again.

Paul challenged Peter’s hypocrisy. “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?” (Galatians 2:14) Forcefully Paul reminded him that it is not in following the Jewish law, or any other list of rules, that we’re made right with God. It is only by faith in Jesus.

Why is this such a big deal? Because we’re incapable of keeping any list of rules, even lists we might come up with on our own.

RESPOND: But there’s another reason why this matters so much. After Paul conversation with Peter he wrote this: “I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20) Think for a moment about what this says; that Jesus loves you so deeply that he gave himself for you.

Would you open your heart to the love of Jesus? Nothing you’ve done in the past or will do in the future changes the love Jesus has for you. We are made right with God based on what Jesus has done rather than on what we do. Let that sink in. Allow the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to wash away the memory of any shame or deep regret.

John Newton, the author of the great hymn “Amazing Grace,” once wrote a friend struggling with guilt: Though “our sins are many, but his mercies are more.”