DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- AN UNBEARABLE YOKE

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- AN UNBEARABLE YOKE

" 'Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?' " (Acts 15:10)

The Apostle Paul was faced with the challenge of the Jewish believers who taught that the Gentile Christians were required to observe the Old Testament Law of Moses – especially the practice of circumcision. Paul's experience was that the non-Jewish believers were accepted by God without circumcision as evidenced by the fact that they received the gift of the Holy Spirit just like the Jewish believers (vs. 8). The Gentile believers were saved, not by keeping the ordinances of the Law, but by grace through their faith in the Lord Jesus without keeping the Mosaic Law.

I'll confess that I was raised in a legalistic tradition that required that I observe certain standards and practices that were based on the desire to live a holy life before the world and the Lord Jesus. I was taught to avoid certain things and to do certain things. I can say, looking back, that I am glad for the proscriptions because they kept me from a lot of ungodly things. But I understand that doing or not doing traditions was not the basis of my salvation. I am saved by grace, through faith and not of works (Ephesians 2:8-9). The fact is that people can be faithful to keep certain rules and still not be saved. They think that what they do or don't do makes them acceptable to God. Granted that there are certain things that the Bible tells us to do or to avoid, but our salvation is not dependent on what we do but our faith in what Jesus did on the cross when He died for our sins. Going to church and giving in the offering are Scriptural but are not the basis for my salvation, and do them because I love Jesus.

There are still things that I avoid doing, not as a requirement for my salvation, but because I love the Lord and want to honor Him. Paul put his finger on the correct conclusion to the matter when he said, "God knows the heart" (vs. 8). When my heart is to honor Him, what I do or don't do is not the issue. The issue is how I can honor Him best.

I need to be careful in judging the spiritual status of other people based on whether or not they meet my criteria for being a Christian. The requirements that I might place on other people are an unbearable yoke. God is the judge of the heart and I need to leave it to Him.

Love, Dad