Galatians 1: 1 - 10
Paul, an apostle–sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead – and all the brothers with me,
To the churches in Galatia:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!
Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Tonight I was having dinner with a Christian friend of mine. As part of our conversation, I suddenly became impassioned with the subject of shallow faith versus a deeper faith. I wondered what was up that I suddenly got all passionate about this subject but when I read tonight's passage from Galatians, it made sense finally.
I bolded the one section because it reminded me of a few people I know who can follow God when things are ok, or have a "Sunday School" faith but are afraid to ask God the tough questions of life. One friend had been taught that God is to be reverenced so much that to present any doubt whatsoever to him, was sin. Thus when the troubles of life got too much for her, her faith wavered and almost died. Thankfully, God saw here through the battle and she came to realize that God can handle her doubts and anger.
Refering more specifically to the bible passage I bolded, the Galatians [and I would say all of us who follow him ] are benefited by a small amount* of these troubles of life if only to help us realize what in our faith is trustworthy and really from God, versus what is not. Before I was a teacher, one day God impressed upon me that no matter what, I am to be completely honest with him about everything. So at the end of a bad day of teaching [which seemed to happen alot], I would be brutally honest. Looking back on those days, I believe it was the only thing that kept me alive and sane as a teacher. Doing so, deepened my faith and helped me to become more intimate with God and not see him as a "Sunday Doll" - someone to play with on Sundays and then forget about for a week.
One way to help one to not desert God when life is rough is to tell him everything. Remember his shoulders are broad and he can handle whatever we say, think, feel or do. And who else is better equiped to take care of us during our struggles?
* I say small amount because there are some folks [ex. Haitians] who seem to have more than their fair share of woes meanwhile others live the life of leisure. Something seems wrong there.
No comments:
Post a Comment