BEGIN AND END– by Stephanie White
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Galatians 3:1-3 NIV
Our lives in Christ begin with faith and they must end with faith – and everything in-between must be done by faith.
We begin our lives in Christ by receiving the free gift God has given us. We receive His payment for our sins. We do this by faith – we hear what the Word has to say and faith is produced. That faith then leads to the action of receiving.
How many of us have no problem believing that we are saved by the work Christ has done for us, but when it comes to every-day life we ignore what Christ has done for us. Instead of depending on Christ, we continue to depend on ourselves.
Human effort will never accomplish the Spiritual. We cannot produce Spiritual fruit in our flesh. Our goal should be to mature in Christ and that only happens as we continually focus on the Word of God.
We are foolish when we believe we can do anything Spiritual on our own. One of the definitions of foolish is “sensual;” foolishness is of the flesh. Foolishness is dependence on man rather than on God. We must begin and end focusing on Jesus Christ.
Our Spiritual lives cannot be realized outside of Christ. He authored our faith and He will complete it (Hebrews 12:2).
Stephanie is a wife, a mom, and an author of several books. Find more of her work and contact her HERE. | 
