GALATIANS 4:30

“But what does the Scripture say? ‘DRIVE OUT THE SLAVE WOMAN AND HER SON, FOR THE SON OF THE SLAVE WOMAN SHALL NOT BE AN HEIR WITH THE SON OF THE FREE WOMAN.’”

In our recent move from Chattanooga to Knoxville, my wife and I did some “casting out.” We got rid of furniture that would not fit in our new home. We got rid of clothes that we had not worn or did not fit anymore (I will not say why, lol). And we cast out household stuff that we just did not have room for anymore. All these things didn’t  make the cut, so to speak. Downsizing meant things had to go.

Paul quotes Genesis 21:10 in today’s verse. I mentioned 21:9 yesterday in my blog. Paul continues the story of Ishmael and Isaac (Hagar and Sarah) and uses this story to point out why the old law could not coexist with the grace of Christ. There was no room for the old way in their new faith. It just did not fit. Paul was not rejecting the Jewish people. He was rejecting what those Jewish believers were trying to insert into their faith in Christ.

APPLICATION

Before you get all self-righteous and say, I would never do that, you might better check out your way of living in Jesus. Do you demand people do certain things? Do you put your church’s traditions above doing what the Word says? What does God require of us? We are told that in Micah 6:8, “He has told you, mortal one, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” We don’t need a bunch of rules and regulations to tell us to do that.

I noticed a bottle the other day on my desk. Can you make out the name on it? It says “Purity.” It’s a brand of eyeglass cleaner my eye doctor gives to her patients. Don’t you wish we had a spiritual eyeglass cleaner so we could see more clearly. Oh wait, we do! He’s called the Holy Spirit. If we will just listen to Him, He will tell us what to keep and what to cast out, how to live pure lives.

As you go through your spiritual closet, look for those things that just don’t fit God’s Word. Look for the old, worn out excuses you have hanging up that you continue to put on every day. Throw out those things that hold you back from living the victorious Christian life. You will be all the better for it, He promises.

O Lord, I want to have only what will draw me closer to You.