by Annagail Lynes

Created on: May 25, 2008   Last Updated: May 27, 2008

Aren't we just engrafted onto the Jews? Aren't we to keep their traditions and customs?

I came across this question recently from a friend, and I was shocked that anyone would think this way.

I can understand where this misconception came from with many of the prominent preachers telling us that we must go back to our Jewish roots, that we must wear a Tallit, a prayer shawl, when we pray.

I've heard a well-known preacher insist that without the Tallit, the woman with the issue of blood would have never been healed. It wasn't by Jesus' Tallit that the woman was healed. It was because of the compassion of Jesus.

What about the ones that tell us that God won't help us unless we give in the Jewish holy day offerings, such as Passover? Urging us give money for atonement offerings? By giving in an atonement offering, we are saying that Jesus' death, burial and resurrection wasn't enough to save us all from Hell.

Everyone needs Jesus, even those of the Jewish faith. They will not automatically go to Heaven because they are born Jewish.

God sent Jesus to fulfill the requirements of the law for us, so that we wouldn't have to because He knew we couldn't. Once we accept Jesus and that He died for the punishment for all our sins and that God raised Him from the dead, we are in Christ.

Once we are in Christ, we are no longer Jew or Greek, male or female (Galatians 3:28). We are all on equal footing. We are all kings and priests through Christ Jesus' shed blood (Revelation 1:6). We are all a part of the family of God.

People are still putting us under the Old Testament laws by telling us that we must obey every commandment in the Old and New Testaments.

We are not saved by keeping the law. We are saved by grace (Ephesians 2:5), by the shed blood of Jesus, which makes us righteous.

Guess what happens when we walk in grace? When we receive God's grace in our lives? We end up fulfilling the law with no effort, with no toil, with no pain.

Jesus died for our sins-past, present and future. Not until we sin again. No, the blood of Jesus is continually cleansing us (I John 1:7).

This is where so many people miss it. They think we are only cleansed until we sin again. No, that is like saying whenever anyone sins in the whole world, we have to find Jesus and re-crucify Him. Through Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross, once we have accepted what Jesus did for us, His blood continually cleanses us.

What if we sin? We tell God we're sorry and move on. Don't dwell on it. Many Christians today are sin-minded

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