Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law. Romans 13:10 (NLT) The power of love accomplishes more than laws alone can. Think about it. Why do we not beat our kids? Is it because the law says not to? Or is it because we love them? Of course, it’s because of love! And because of that love, we naturally obey the law at the same time. When Jesus said that the most important commandments were to love God and our neighbours (Matthew 22:37-40), He was not doing away with the Ten Commandments—that would open the door to chaos and anarchy. He said, “These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them” (Mathew 22:40, …

“God did not send his Son into the world to judge and condemn the world, but to be its Savior and rescue it!” John 3:17 (TPT) Over the years, I’ve met many people who’ve been hurt by religion. But it’s essential to realize that it wasn’t Jesus who hurt them. That’s an important distinction. Unfortunately, following Christ becomes legalistic for many people, and they begin to place rule-following ahead of a relationship with God. Sadly, I’ve discovered this leads to mean-spiritedness. For example, I remember speaking to a heartbroken mom whose church asked her to leave when her husband divorced her. You see, it is often legalistic people who shun others—not Jesus or the true church. Christ didn’t turn His back on people who fell …

Can’t you see the central issue in all this? It is not what you and I do—submit to circumcision, reject circumcision. It is what God is doing, and he is creating something totally new, a free life! Galatians 6:15 (MSG) Today, some people believe that the church should preach such a harsh message that every sinner either runs to the altar for forgiveness or out the back door in shame. Yet I can’t find Jesus or the apostles doing that. When they preached the Gospel in a city, it would explode with great joy! Jesus consistently attracted massive crowds, and when He received persecution it was never from the crowd. It was always from the legalistic, religious people. In fact, those same religious people nailed …

When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” Genesis 3:8-9 (NLT) There’s an old saying that goes, “Religion is man’s pursuit of God, but Christianity is God’s pursuit of man.” You see, works-based religion involves people pursuing after God’s love, blessing or presence by following a bunch of man-made rules. Religion is a harsh, relentless taskmaster for so many people. For example, there are devotees to certain religions who drive steel pins through their cheeks to please their god. Followers of other religions crawl on their knees up steep mountains to a …

Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God’s Message to you? Galatians 3:2 (MSG) The Old Testament laws of Moses served a purpose. They highlighted how sinful humanity is (Romans 3:20, Galatians 3:19) and pointed the Jews toward the need for a Saviour (Galatians 3:21-23). But the laws could not make people right with God. Working so hard to please God through their own efforts left them exhausted. That’s why works-based religion has nothing on the freedom Jesus offers. The Apostle Paul gives a great example of the difference between the two. In Acts 22:3-4, Paul acknowledged that he was fanatical in his …