November 16

Galatians 1:4 (NIV84) — 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,

Jesus gave himself up for us! There are so many things that He did it for – so many benefits, but here Paul through the Holy Spirit gives us such an important one! Let me give you the literal translation of “present evil age”. “The time period which we are in which has a system of practices and STANDARDS that are morally bankrupt and evil.” Jesus gave Himself up so we would be “set free from the danger” that comes from the effect of sin. Our sin makes us open to the system of practices and standards of this world that are evil (by the way they all are evil – all the practices and standards of this world), and Jesus wanted to set us free so we were not taken in by them. Did you get that? We are not supposed to practice or shoot for the standards of this world! Whether or not we are talking about outright evil or falling short of the standard and practices of God, we have been set free from the draw that woos us into settling for anything less than what God has for us.

It is the will of God that we live way beyond the world’s standards and practices. God has so much for us, so much promise, so much blessing, so much favor – why settle for less? Since we have been set free, I think we should act like it and live in the full blessing of God!