Bible Study

Bible Study March 3, 2025

“Live Against the Grain”

Galatians 2:20 – 21 (TLB)

20 “I have been crucified with Christ: and I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the real life I now have within this body is a result of my trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I am not one of those who treats Christ’s death as meaningless. For if we could be saved by keeping Jewish laws, then there was no need for Christ to die.”

Sunday afternoon I was sitting in the recliner after church channel surfing before I fell asleep. On Channel two was the NASCAR race and I saw a sponsor on one of the cars. The slogan on the car was the title of this article “Live Against the Grain.” I thought that is exactly how we as Christ Followers are to live. We should not be going with the flow but we should be living our lives as we are led by the Spirit.

I did a quick search about living life against the grain and found several articles the following is one I found excellent I thought I would share today. Living against the grain means:

Daily commitment:

Living for Jesus is a daily decision to prioritize Him above all else, including taking up your cross and following His teachings.

Transformation through Christ:

By dying to self and allowing Christ to live through us, our lives are transformed to reflect His character.

Obedience to His word:

Following Jesus involves actively listening to and obeying His commands.

Serving others:

Living for Jesus means using your life to serve others with love and compassion, just as He did.

We are called to live in grace in a world that lives in ungrace. We are called to serve in a world that wants to be served. We are called to give when in our world people are taking. Jesus was radical and our lives should be radically different than what we see being lived around us.

Of each of these the one that caught my mind was “Transformation through Christ.” Without the transformation all else is of no lasting value. Our lives must change as we are crucified with Christ. That comes from asking for His forgiveness for the wrongs we have committed, they living out what the daily commitment suggest for us.

God Bless.