March 21, 2023
Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist. So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world? You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years. I fear for you. Perhaps all my hard work with you was for nothing.
Thought:
The hardest question to answer about anything is “why?” It gets to the heart of every matter. Paul is asking the Galatians: Why fall back into legalism? Paul is pleading with the Galatians to live in freedom as he does.
For us today and the Galatians then, it came down to a doctrine problem - a wrong-thinking problem. Sometimes we (like them) can have the mindset that we made a deal with God; we think that we signed a contract and He owes us, and we owe Him. But this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Salvation is a free gift of grace through faith, and all we can do is accept it. Jesus gave His unconditional love and grace to us, and that’s the basis of our relationship with Him. Legalism says: “God, I’ll do for you, and you do for me.” Grace says: “It’s done; accept the gift and live in freedom.”
Application:
1. Check your doctrine. Do you view your relationship with God as a contract in which you owe something? Or as a gift that you can only accept?
2. Is your Christian life moving forward into liberty or backward into bondage? Think carefully before you answer.