So many childhood stories follow the same plot: someone is under a curse, and the whole story is about breaking out from under it. Sleeping Beauty. Beauty and the Beast. Rumpelstiltskin. We grew up rooting for the cursed one to finally go free.

Nobody wants to be under a curse, but in Galatians 3, Apostle Paul points out that people inadvertently keep putting themselves under one. Paul lays out this hard truth by saying, “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’”

It may seem strange to hear Paul say that the law is a self-inducing curse, but here is what he means. The law demands perfection, and none of us can deliver it. Not even close. When we try to please God by the law, we are doomed by our own inability to measure up. No human being, after our first father Adam fell into sin, can keep the law. The law is good when used properly, but it is hopeless as a pathway to salvation. It only ends in our condemnation. That’s why it’s a curse when we try to walk that pathway.

But that’s where Christ steps in. He became the curse for us—hung on a tree, bearing the full weight of every failure, every shortcoming, every sin we’d ever commit. The curse that belonged to us landed on Him, and the curse was reversed for all who believe on Him.

And why did Christ do this? So the promises of God could reach us. So righteousness could be ours. So the Spirit could be ours. So freedom—real freedom—could be ours, lived, not just talked about. And it all comes by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Beloved, this isn’t a fairy tale. The curse is actually lifted. Live like it. You, the cursed one, can finally go free. Don’t ever invite it back into your lives. The righteous shall live by faith!

Change begins in you!