Truth will rise above falsehood as oil above water. —Miguel de Cervantes
Satan will do anything he can to distract us from Christ. ANYTHING. And once he has lost us to God’s grace, he’ll do anything he can to keep us from experiencing our freedom in Christ. One of his favorite tactics is the mixture of law and grace that creates a false gospel.
Listen, Satan is smart, and he knows you’re not that stupid either. So he’s not going to try to feed you straight motor oil. I mean, who would go for that? Right? But he’s going to try to trick you by mixing that oil into your coffee… He’s going to try to inject marching into your dance through lies that destroy the whole thing.
And one of his favorite tricks is getting us to try to please people rather than simply loving people.
As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse! Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. (Galatians 1:9-11)
Please be honest with yourself and think about this. You can keep all the rules from a bitter heart. You can keep all the rules and still have no desire for God’s glory whatsoever, and it is very likely that you will be tempted by Satan to try to keep all the rules so people will notice you.
Worst of all, you can keep all the rules and never love God and never love people even once. That’s why keeping the rules is such a dangerous thing because you can actually do it and completely miss out on experiencing Life.
Jesus, I believe that You are absolutely all I need. I believe that life in You is an experience of the Holy Spirit transforming me and expressing Himself through me. I don’t always live this way. It’s so easy to start marching to someone else’s agenda again and again. But today, I’m stepping out onto the dance floor again, listening to Your music, ready for You to lead me again. Thank You! Amen.