Religion VS Faith

We enter into 2020 by taking a look at the Book of Galatians. Paul fills the pages addressing the difference between slavery to the Law and Freedom in Christ, as well as the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. It boils down to the difference between works and grace. It’s what I’m call the difference between Old Time Religion and New Time Faith.

On the very first Sunday of the New Year we have the privilege of celebrating Communion, which helps us recognize the old, while we welcome the new. There is the remembrance of Passover, as God spared His children from the angel of death in Egypt. There is the remembrance of the Pascal Lamb. Communion also reminds us that Jesus Christ was our Sacrificial Lamb. We are reminded by Jesus’ death that in His blood we are given a New Covenant. Our relationship to God, provide through the sacrifice of Jesus, is no longer based on works. Instead, as New Creations in Christ, we are reconciled and redeemed by grace and grace alone.

So, as we begin the New Year, it may be time to consider letting go of the “old”, stop dwelling on the past, and by faith begin stepping into the “new” and focusing on what is still to come. “If anyone is in Christ they are a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5.17)