you ever read something so profound, you get a knot in your stomach? it happens to me when something just really grips me. i feel cornered, convicted and humbled...often times against my will. it is good.
i have a knot that i want to share. call it a confession. i started reading Galatians again tonight. honestly, it has been some time since i have spent serious time in the New Testament, and i have felt disconnected in a sense from Jesus and His teachings. wondering which writing i should focus on, i felt lead to Galatians. and i started reading.
iv only gotten through part of chapter three, and i had to stop and write. this knot just keeps growing. you know the kind that is so great, you cant help but bend forward and make it even more felt within you?
lets start at the beginning, where the knot started to form. its in the first chapter, right after paul greets his recipients of his letter. check this out:
8But 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!
i was frozen for a few minutes here. the boldness of paul here grips my very heart. you know that feeling when you read something again, and it is like brand new? that is the feeling, coupled with conviction and humbleness. see, paul does not just stop at man here, but he takes it to another level, that of angels. this is serious stuff paul is talking about......the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
it makes me stop and think, what kind of Gospel do i preach? would it line up with paul? more importantly, would it line up with Christ?
and see, when we jump farther in we find paul is not just talking about words here....he is talking about how we live. later in chapter two we find paul speaking of his issue with peter. we learn that peter, when with the other jews, acted differently around the gentile believers than he did when the jews were not present. paul in turn it says, "11...opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong." im just lost for words, it feels like.
take this situation with peter that paul addresses, and jump back to where we began. paul goes on in verse ten of chapter one to ask the question of who we try to gain approval of? is it men, or of God? there is a convicting question!
here is another way to ask it.....
how often do we water down the Gospel of Jesus Christ as to not offend anyone?
how often do we let the fear of rejection or criticism stop us from speaking the truth?
and again, this goes farther than just words. how often do we do this with our actions? maybe we dont pray before we eat when we go out, simply because someone might point and laugh. but then in church on Sunday we are all about the prayer team.
you see what paul is saying? paul in his boldness eternally condemns anyone, man or angel, who preaches anything other than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. and i would go as far as to say paul does not limit this to just words. that is convicting.
but it does not stop there for me, this is just where the knot begins. after he tells of the situation with peter, he goes into this lengthy declaration of the point of grace. there is so much in here that just yanks at my heart, but one part specifically convicts me.
21...for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!
ask yourself this question with me:
how often do we set up boundaries in our lives to keep us from falling, and find they tend to fail more than work?
this is the question i was faced with when i read this passage from Galatians chapter two. let me say this though before i move on, i am not against setting up boundaries in our lives to help keep us from falling; in fact, i believe Scripturally it is commanded of us.
but here is the danger i was confronted with tonight, and ultimately convicted of. we often set up these boundaries to help keep us safe, and intentionally or not, end up relying on them to save us. and then when they dont, we find ourselves in a state of confusion and depression.
how foolish to place our trust in these laws! paul makes a point that is so simple, yet so profound! if we were meant to find righteousness through laws, what would be the point of Jesus Christ stepping into His creation from heaven, to die on a cross? there would be no point!!!! paul further drives this point home clearly in the following chapter when he says,
11Clearly no one is justified before God by the law...
the law, our boundaries we put up, they are not what save us. it is what Christ Jesus did for us on the cross; and only by faith in what He did. there is nothing we can do to ever save ourselves. no amount of effort, no skill. it is only by faith in the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ that can save us. it is grace from God, not the law. this is why paul also said,
16...know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.
for if this were not true, "Christ died for nothing!"
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