I guess the way that Paul feels about the Galatians is the way you feel about us, God. Paul was saying I came and taught you and you keep wanting to hold these standards that don’t have to be anymore.
And I imagine that’s how you feel, God. You’re saying, “I’ve saved you, and yet you keep on reverting back to these old ways that I’ve already saved you from. You keep placing this standard on yourself that I’m not even placing on you. And that I knew you couldn’t achieve anyway, so that’s why I had a plan all along.”
Why is it that when God forgives us, we still try to earn it? When God saves us, we still try to do enough to earn it? We can’t. And God has made that quite clear. And the truth is, I think that it is so habit-forming of us that we don’t realize what we’re doing to ourselves.
Sometimes when I sin I feel like God isn’t going to give me something. I feel like that sin has subtracted from the blessing I was going to get. And as hard as it is to believe or process, God doesn’t think like that. Little by little we can grow to understand how He doesn’t think, but we’ll never fully understand how He does.
I agree that God is not going to bless any mess. But God does bless. After all, you are alive, and sometimes the blessing we miss is the fact that He allows us another day to pray for forgiveness for what we did the day before.
And when I think of the many blessings I already don’t deserve, having the opportunity to repent and ask for forgiveness for my sins is easily at the top.