Just Visiting

So yesterday I had one of those "oh, I get it" moments with Jesus.  We are homeschooling our kiddos, but we totally are into some contact with the world and all the good that comes from that so we take her over to the local elementary school for an hour each day.  She joins the second grade class there for their "specials" which is a rotating class of three days each of art, music, and P.E. and it is some awesome stuff.  Occasionally, Seth and I hang out inside the school library while we wait for her.  When we do that, like we did yesterday, we have to sign in and wear a visitors sticker.  Legal and safety reasons of course.  Well, as I was putting Seth's sticker on him, we had a cool conversation.

"Mom, why do I have to wear this?"

"Um, because they said so, baby." (lazy moment there...good thing he didn't let it go at that)

"But WHY mom???"

"Well, because you have to be labeled as different.......because you don't belong to this school.  You have to be marked as different because otherwise it would be easy for a teacher to pull you into her class or send you to the office or for you to just fall in line with a class going down the hall.  That sticker says you're here, but not here to be a part of everything that goes on here. That sticker says you are here for a specific purpose, and then you will be leaving.  You're just a visitor."

And it hit me....ME TOO!  I mean, I know that I am just a sojourner.  Psalm 84....mmmmmm, that's some good stuff right there.  I totally know that my home is in heaven.  But do I know it enough for it to show up like a sticker on my shirt?  Follow my crazy brain if you can...I get fuzzy sometimes.  Have I mentioned that we went dairy and coffee free in my house this week?  Green tea just AIN'T the same baby.  Anyway, so do I actually KNOW, like experientially, that I am a sojourner, a pilgrim?  Is there something that marks me to the world as just a visitor?  Not lame stuff that we put on the outside.  Like some people think certain clothes, or a lack of tattoos, or the presence of tattoos, or whatever thing we pick that decade, will mark us as "christians" right?  But I am talking about something else.  I think of Stephen and Pat Apple.  They are some of the most awesome people Jesus ever made, and they are serving Him over in Israel.  I remember that the first thing Jesus told them to do was not to start up a Bible study right away or any of the normal stuff we think of when we think of planting a church or doing missions.  Jesus told them to walk around and pray.  There's way more to the story, and Pat actually wrote a book that totally rocks, but here's what made me think of it.  As they walked around and just prayed over the city, people began to notice them.  They would walk up to them and say, "You've just got a peace about you.  This is Israel.  We don't have peace.  What do you have???"  And of course the answer was Jesus!  And God has done some amazing works through them, its super awesome.  But do you see what I mean?  It wasn't a certain clothing style or a shirt with enough verses on it (not that those things are bad).....their "visitor sticker" was the peace they had.  The peace that says no matter what happens on this earth, I am headed toward home.

So do I have anything that looks like a "visitors sticker"?  Is there anything about me that plainly states like Hebrews 11 that I am looking for a city whose builder and maker is God, for my homeland?  Is there anything about me to label me a christian, a visitor in this world, besides moral living?  Because there are not-yet-believers out there who are way better at moral living than me.  I want to be marked by HIS visitors sticker.  I think that begins with really really experientially living like this isn't my home.  That's going to take some praying it in for me.  OUCH, right?  Gotta love those lessons that smack you in the face!

Along with that spiritual heads up, we also had our weekly girls Bible study in Galatians.  We went over chapter 2 and there are some cool things in there for sure!  One thing I love about the way that we are doing this is that we each bring something to the table that is different.  Unlike a Bible study where one person talks the whole time (that's great, don't get me wrong) I love this setting where we are just all hearing different cool stuff and sharing our hearts and questions with each other.

So that being said I have a question for YOU!

Here's the background to my question....we know the deal with this book right?  Paul was writing to these believers because the Judaizers (how DO you spell that?) had come in and said that Paul was probably well intentioned but that since he wasn't getting the story first hand like the original apostles, he had gotten it messed up a bit.  Jesus is great to start with but now keep the law.  And Paul is ticked.  He is one unhappy camper!  Because to say that you now need the law to STAY saved is a total affront to what Jesus did on the cross.  I have to agree with that for sure.  That wouldnt really be good news right?  Like yay Jesus died for you and now heres a hunk of laws for you to follow.  YIKES!  The problem is, I mess up every single day SO MANY TIMES.  I can't even make breakfast without breaking the law.  Especially when I make bacon! ha! Sorry, sorry.  This really is a serious thing for sure.  I am a loser.  I can't keep the law for sure.  But theres a huge push out there right now in some circles that says grace grace grace and then lives licentiously.  Which I also totally know isn't the point.  We can't be made right with God by keeping the law, but the Bible is super clear that we are to love AND OBEY His commands.

So here's my question to you (I totally want to hear your heart on this!)

What law is Paul talking about?

I heard a great Pastor say that the difficulty here is that when Paul says "law" here, he is talking about the ceremonial law that had at its intent the purpose of showing you that you could not be good enough to earn Gods favor.  But that is different from God's moral law.  So paul is saying that you should not ever do anything because you want to earn your way into God's heart, BUT THAT DOESNT MEAN YOU AREN'T SUPPOSED TO DO ANYTHING.  Dude, Jesus Himself all over the place lays out ways for holy living and says that you'll be blessed as you keep His commandments.  It's not an old testament concept that we're talking about here.  I really want to get this.  It's pretty important, right?

Man, that is so not any of what I sat down to write about!  Well, in a way, I guess it is.  I wanted to talk about verse 11...Paul was SO UPSET that it was worth bringing it up.  Even if it might hurt relationships with people that he loved.  Thinking about that got me off on this tangent I guess.  But really, thats the crux of Galatians for me.  The law here needs to be defined clearly.  Give me your thoughts okay?

Oh and I totally left verse 20 out there....somebody dig into that okay?

Okay it's time to serve some hot cranberry cider (remember no dairy around here anymore) to some really cold kids who've been playing in the snow for the last hour or so.  These kids bless my heart!  Anybody else out there have snow on May 1st?