Those people are zealous for you, but not in a good way. Instead, they want to isolate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them. Nevertheless, it is good to be zealous if it serves a noble purpose—at any time, and not only when I am with you.
-Galatians 4:17-18 BSB

Zeal is defined as, "great energy, enthusiasm, and intense devotion in pursuit of a cause, ideal, or activity." In our modern day, we don't see a whole lot of zeal. We see a lot of passivity and comfortability. Ambition and zeal tends to be those things that set people apart. It is one thing to have someone be faithful with going to church every Sunday. It is another thing to throw away one's TV in order to ensure more time spent with the Lord. One is a practiced routine whereas the other is a zealous endeavor.

Due to the lack of zeal in our culture, the weight of it often leaves an impact on us. When we witness zeal, we can often become spurred on and encouraged by it. It can direct us and move us. It can sometimes serve as an engine that pushes us through one season and into another. But zeal is simply a tool.

The church in Galatia had an experience with zealous people. These were those that were leading them astray. They were not passive about it. They were active and energetic about it. They zealously pursued these doctrines in the congregation, but they sought to use that zeal to isolate them from true doctrine. These evil workers wanted the church in Galatia to be zealous for them. This very thing, Paul speaks against.

Interestingly, Paul does not squash zeal all together. He recognized that zeal is good. He is looking upon the zeal of those who pursued the flock and using them as an example of zeal, sharing with the Galatians that it is good to be zealous for noble purposes. It is this balance that I want to address.

I am sure we are all familiar with the phrase, "You don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater." It is a suitable phrase for this teaching. Zeal can scare people. In a culture that elevates passivity, passion can look angry. Zeal can look mean. Perhaps you have even come across a zealous believer and that believer, in his or her zeal for the Lord, did or said something that offended you. I have seen many young believers have their zeal cut down. And it is a shame. It has historically been the most zealous believers for the Lord that have shaped church history and impacted the culture. What Paul teaches us here is that zeal needs to be cultivated. It needs to be directed. It needs to be focused.

Consider your own life. Are you zealous for the Lord and for good works? If you are not, how can that be cultivated? And importantly, how can you, while maintaining zeal, speak the truth in love?

As we had addressed the problem of Israel and their desire to draw back to Egypt, we must confront the possibility of returning to slavery. Perhaps we need to be confronted by the very questions Paul asks. I am writing these devotions under the very assumption that you know God and God knows you. When you look upon your life and you see the patterns of your life, are you adopting the patterns that Christ has laid out for you? Or are you re-adopting the patterns that originally carried you from Christ?

I recently watched a video on a particular individual's fitness journey. They had started out over 500 pounds. In a lifestyle led by sloth and gluttony, they lacked self-control. Finally, after enough bad doctor visits they determined to do something different. They changed their lifestyle. They ate different foods, ate less food, and began working out. They genuinely were loving the new lifestyle. Eventually, they got to the goal they set out for. But that changed everything. Having arrived at that point, they then flipped and went right back to the old habits. The rationale went something like this, "Because I am no longer 500 pounds, these snacks aren't so bad." But the long formed pattern resurrected the old muscle memory. It wasn't long before they were right back to where they started.

For fear of making this appear about works, I won't use the above analogy too liberally, but I do want to stress a point. The way that the person above would have maintained their health was to maintain the practices they started with. In a similar vein, we are to maintain our walk by the way we started, by grace through faith.'

I encourage you to take an honest look at your life. The Lord has called you out of things and has called to refine things in your life. Are you cultivating those old patterns or a new way of living? Be honest and consider it in prayer before the Lord. What does He desire for you?

The beautiful reality of our relationship with the Lord is that we were not left as slaves. We were set free from our former masters and were made to be sons in the Lord. Last week, we talked about the significance of being sons and how that has nothing to do with gender but everything to do with status. The sons received the inheritance. This is a declaration that we receive the promises of God. As Ephesians states, God sent His Spirit to act as a seal for us. He is the guarantee of the promise. The book of Romans agrees with Paul's statement concerning the work that the Spirit does of recognizing God as Father.

The fact that we are God's sons is not exclusively to say that we receive an inheritance. The implications of sonship goes significantly further. One of the most incredible mysteries concerning our sonship is that it declares God to be our Father. A piece of this that astounds me is the extent that God is willing to go to make this reality understood by us.

Already an amazing mystery - God has given us His Spirit. He has placed His Spirit in us to testify of Him, to lead us into the truth of Christ Jesus, and to empower us to carry out the work of the ministry. The testimony that the Spirit gives us of the Father is that He is our Father. Pause and soak that in for a moment. One of the major ministries of the Spirit of God to the believer is to assure the believer that God is their Father. In fact, the Spirit is Who urges us to call out to the Father as our Father. To put it in incredibly simple terms, God does not just want you to know that you are His son, He wants you to know that He is your Father.

God, as our Father, desires that we call out to Him. He calls for us to cry out to Him. Consider the Psalmist in Psalm 18:

2The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer.  
My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,  
my shield, and the horn of my salvation,  
my stronghold.  
3I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised;  
so shall I be saved from my enemies.  
-Psalm 18:2-3 BSB

It is as the Psalmist cries out to the Lord that he is saved. We see the pattern all throughout Scripture that God establishes Himself as One that His people can and must cry out too. He is our Father. We can seek Him in prayer. We can cry out to Him in desperation. We can thank Him in rejoicing.

Now I understand that some of us do not have the greatest experiences with our earthly fathers. That may taint the view in which you see God as our Father. If this is you, I want to remind you of something important concerning the Father that the Lord continuously had to remind me of. Before God is Father, He is holy. That means He is set apart from anything and anyone else. He is not like any earthly father. He is a good Father. For everything a father ought to be and ought to do, God is that perfectly. It would be unjust to the Lord to look upon earthly experiences and define Him by those. He is beyond it. So praise be to our Holy Father!

What can you cry out to your Father in heaven for today?

Living in the United States of America, we hear a lot about freedom. We have amazing laws that protect God-given rights. We have freedom to speak, freedom of religion, and a whole list of other freedoms that we have the opportunity to delight in and participate in. As Americans, we hold high that position of freedom that we are given. Rightfully so. It then comes a shock to many to realize that despite the freedoms they have, they have been enslaved to an unruly master.

For those of us in the faith, we have become well acquainted with these former masters that have competed and contended with us. The flesh is one that recurrently presses thorns and thistles into our walks. The principles of this world compete for attention and devotion. The enemy himself seeks to drive wedges in any area he can and fires fiery darts liberally at every chink in our armor that he can find. We have come to confess and recognize the depravity of the state we were in. Praise be to God for the freedom He has given to us! We participate in the truth that we are no longer slaves as we once were! The freedom is a topic we will discuss more tomorrow. Today, however, I want us to reflect on this former bondage.

I recently had a conversation with a dear friend about sentimentality. Admittedly, I am not a very sentimental person myself. I used to be however. In our discussion, they shared how sentimentality often overlooks the problems of the past. It was an astute observation. It was one that Israel often struggled with.

And there in the desert they all grumbled against Moses and Aaron. “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt!” they said. “There we sat by pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, but you have brought us into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death!”
-Exodus 16:2-3 BSB

Israel had just come out of Egypt. They witnessed incredible miracles of the Lord. They witnessed the plagues and were preserved from them. They experienced the Passover when the angel of death eliminated the firstborn sons of any who did not paint their doorways with the blood of a sacrificial lamb. They witnessed the splitting of the Red Sea and even crossed over on dry ground and witnessed the Lord eliminate their enemies by crashing the sea on those who pursued. They even had the bitter waters of Marah made sweet before them. As hunger came, however, they looked back upon Egypt and seem to forget how oppressive that slave master was to them.

O how often we can fall for the same trap! We may be coming out of an amazing season of faithfulness of the Lord and are suddenly stricken by trials. As the old saying goes, "Old habits die hard." We run back to the old things simply looking at the benefits they provided and overlooking the enslavement we were in. As I roll my eyes at Israel's ridiculous actions, I myself am reminded of my many own failings in the same things. The practice I have adopted is to remind myself of the oppression I once was in. I encourage you to do the same.

Do you remember what it was like before you found Christ? How did your old slave master rule over you?

1What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he is the owner of everything. 2He is subject to guardians and trustees until the date set by his father.  

3So also, when we were children, we were enslaved under the basic principles of the world. 4But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5to redeem those under the law, that we might receive our adoption as sons. 6And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, you are also an heir through God.  
 
8Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! 11I fear for you, that my efforts for you may have been in vain. 12I beg you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you. You have done me no wrong.  

13You know that it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you. 14And although my illness was a trial to you, you did not despise or reject me. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus Himself. 15What then has become of your blessing? For I can testify that, if it were possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?  

17Those people are zealous for you, but not in a good way. Instead, they want to isolate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them. 18Nevertheless, it is good to be zealous if it serves a noble purpose—at any time, and not only when I am with you.  

19My children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you.  
 
21Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not understand what the law says? 22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born through the promise.  

24These things serve as illustrations, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery: This is Hagar. 25Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27For it is written:  

“Rejoice, O barren woman,  
who bears no children;  
break forth and cry aloud,  
you who have never travailed;  
because more are the children of the desolate woman  
than of her who has a husband.”
 
28Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29At that time, however, the son born by the flesh persecuted the son born by the Spirit. It is the same now.  
30But what does the Scripture say? “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” 31Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
-Galatians 4 BSB

Let's pray against the deception of the church at large. Pray that Jesus would be everything to us and that we would draw near by faith. Pray for a purity of faith for your fellow believer. Pray for your pastors and teachers that they would preach and teach the Word without compromise.

Our identity in Christ is one of the most important topics in all of Scripture. So much hinges upon it. There were promises given to Israel, that if you were not Israel, you did not receive. Similarly, there are promises for the believer. If you do not belong in identity to Christ, then you are not His.

In today's passage, we are given a very important identity. We are called sons of God. An important note must be addressed here. See how Paul goes on to say that there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female? The purpose that this gets across is that being a son of God has nothing to do with gender. This is everything to do with position.
The Greek would not be one to receive the inheritance. Neither would the slave receive the inheritance. Neither would the females. It was the sons who received the inheritance. Being that, by faith, we belong to Abraham, and now by identity, we belong to God as His sons, we can receive the promises therein.

It is this very fact that has led me to begin studying the Scriptures to see what promises we may have in Christ Jesus. One of my mentors growing up had a bit of a pet peeve among believers. He highlighted how they constantly talked about holding on to the promises of God but when he asked what promises, they couldn't give any. Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have amazing promises through Jesus. Do we know what they are? I encourage you to seek out what promises the Lord has given and see what inheritance we receive by faith in Jesus!

What promises are you holding on too?

The struggle we may face in learning to draw near by faith is a very real struggle. We grew up needing to be told what was right and what was wrong. We needed rules as guardians to help keep us alive. The expectations of our parents helped many of us become the people we have become today. It was rules like not putting forks in outlets or not jumping into the fireplace that kept me from danger. As we matured, so did many of these rules.
 
Most of us have learned to look to rules and regulations in our lives to help keep guardrails up in our lives. With more maturity, we no longer need the rules and regulations to keep us. I understand the consequence of sticking a fork in an outlet or jumping into a fireplace. The rule guided in me a wisdom that observed the natural consequences of things. In short, the law guided me to a better way. The law is not the end. It is the beginning. It has acted as a guide to lead us into something greater.

Faith has now been revealed in Christ. The law, the rules, the regulations, all served for a time to lead us to Christ. The substance is here! We no longer need the guardian. But does this mean we are without law entirely? By no means. We are not antinomian, meaning without law. We live by the law of the Spirit of Christ Jesus. In other words, the Spirit because the measure by which we live. How do we have the Spirit again? By faith! So again, it all comes down to faith. We must believe God!

How can you draw near to the Lord by faith today?

What shall we make of the one who neglects drawing near by faith and instead tries to draw near by works? Paul's conclusion is that they are under a curse. For anyone who attempts to fulfill the law in themselves is subject to the entirety of them. It has been a clear point that the righteous live by faith. But those who follow the law must live by them. What does that mean? It means that the one who attempts to live by the law is not living by faith. Indeed, they cannot.
 
Jesus took upon Himself the curse of our inability to uphold the law by becoming a curse for us. In His death upon the cross, he became that curse and killed the curse. He raised again to life having put to death the cruse. What remains then for the believer is to draw near by faith. Should we draw near by faith, there is a promise we may receive. That is the promise of the Spirit.

The Spirit is the very faculty of God by which the believer ought to live and move and have their being. Many of us may wish that we had Jesus in manifest person, but it is the manifest person of Jesus who said that it is better that He could go so that the Spirit may fall upon those who believe. It is better for us that we have the Spirit. If it is by the faith that we receive the promise of the Spirit, I am left with one question for you...

Do you believe the Spirit dwells in you?

Abraham is more than a prominent figure to the Jewish reader. He is known as the father of faith. He is the point that all the promises of God to the Jewish people come back too. It may very well be said that Abraham is the hinge point of all that Israel is. It is through those promises that the Messiah came forth. It is through those promises that Israel was preserved continually. It was through those promises that Israel had any identity with God. But how was Abraham a recipient of those promises?

We have this particular line of Scripture reiterated throughout the New Testament, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." The actions of his life did not lead his faith. Rather, his faith led the actions of his life. Belief changed his course. Belief led him to experience God in a way no other man had at that point. There was no law at that point that could set Abraham apart. There was only faith.
 
The argument that this leads Paul to make is that if the law was not present for the promises made to Abraham, then the law will not serve to fulfill those promises. It is not by works that we walk in the promises of God. It is by faith. Faith becomes the central focus of the whole argument. It was not performance of the law that granted Abraham righteousness. It was his faith.
 
We can fall for similar traps of wanting to do all the right things for God and live by way of performance. We so often fail to understand the reality of grace through faith. Grace is not given to me because I tried really hard to get things right. I have not increased in favor because I followed all the rules. We must become like Abraham and let our lives be led by faith. It is then that we see the grace of God in its fullness. It is then that we see the fulfillment of many promises. Not by works of our flesh, but by faith in Christ.

What is God asking you to believe in Him for today?

Paul begins this section with some very strong words. I know for many, the strength of Paul's rebuke can come across overly harsh. What I then consider is just how foolish this must have been for the Galatians. I reckon that Paul had clearly drawn the lines that he is reinforcing through this letter.
 
I remember a moment in my teenage years. I was helping my dad with yard work and I told him that I could take care of trimming the hedges. As he passed me the hedge trimmers, which was plugged into a nearby wall, he gave me two simple instructions, "Do not cut your leg, and please do not cut the cord." I reinforced emphatically, and perhaps with a bit of attitude that I would be careful and it would be fine. I grip the hedge trimmers as my dad walks to our front yard and begin trimming the hedges. My dad barely got to the garage before the power suddenly went out in the whole house. I can only imagine the sigh of disappointment when he heard my voice come from the backyard. "Uhh... Dad?" He comes back around the corner to find the extension cord had become a new fixture of the blades of the hedge trimmer. It took no more than 45 seconds from my dad's instruction to the time I cut the cord. The conversation that followed was NOT a happy one.

Paul had taught the Galatians an important lesson. Jesus is received by faith, not by works. They accepted this teaching, but went on through the deception of evil workers to believe that the reception of the Spirit must then be by works. In short, their way of doing things simply didn't add up. It was, apparently, an obvious deception. In his bewilderment he even begins to question that someone must have cast a spell on them! They had to have been bewitched. This is one of those moments where it may be said that Paul was at a loss for words. On the outside looking in, it can appear so obvious to us as well. But what if I told you that the very same deception reigns in our modern churches as well?

It is common place among believers to have the basic understanding of our salvation being by grace through faith. What is not common place is to believe that our sanctification is also by grace through faith. As we accepted Christ Jesus, we then take upon ourselves the mantle of our own salvation and try to walk out in our flesh what was started in the Spirit. The very bewitching that plagued the Galatians may also be plaguing us.
 
Consider this question for yourself today: Do I trust the Lord for my sanctification?

1O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?  

3Are you so foolish? After starting in the Spirit, are you now finishing in the flesh? 4Have you suffered so much for nothing, if it really was for nothing? 5Does God lavish His Spirit on you and work miracles among you because you practice the law, or because you hear and believe?  

6So also, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 7Understand, then, that those who have faith are sons of Abraham. 8The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and foretold the gospel to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.  

10All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” 11Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.” 12The law, however, is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.”
 
13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” 14He redeemed us in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.  

15Brothers, let me put this in human terms. Even a human covenant, once it is ratified, cannot be canceled or amended. 16The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, “and to seeds,” meaning many, but “and to your seed,” meaning One, who is Christ.  

17What I mean is this: The law that came 430 years later does not revoke the covenant previously established by God, so as to nullify the promise. 18For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God freely granted it to Abraham through a promise.  

19Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the seed to whom the promise referred. It was administered through angels by a mediator. 20A mediator is unnecessary, however, for only one party; but God is one.  

21Is the law, then, opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come from the law. 22But the Scripture pronounces all things confined by sin, so that by faith in Jesus Christ the promise might be given to those who believe.  

23Before this faith came, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. 24So the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.  

26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.  
-Galatians 3 BSB

Take some time in a prayer of surrender today. Pray for protection against deception. Pray that the Lord would lead you in humility. Give praise to the Lord for His love that He loved you with that He would call you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

What an amazing reality to proclaim as a believer! What a deep truth that prevails over the doubts and fears we may have!

I have been crucified with Christ. This is one of the single most important statements we can hold on to as believers. This is a reality that has already been accomplished! Look at the tense of this language. "I have been..." This indicates that it is a past thing that has already been done. If you are in Christ Jesus, you already have been crucified with Christ. The good work that He declared is finished has been done and accomplished in you.

I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. Here is the response to the good work that He has accomplished. Do not be deceived! This is not an effort wherein you strive to become good enough. On the contrary, you become less that Christ would become more. Your life is no longer your own. In a way of putting it, you have surrendered your vote to how your life should be run. You gave it to Jesus. He now has the say as to the trajectory of your life. Every moment of every day is subject to the Lord. "Me time" is a thing of the past. All of your time is now His. All of your energy is now His. Yet again, do not be deceived! The Lord knows your needs as well as your limitations. If you give your all to Him in this way, He will care for you! He will grant your rest. He will give you peace. He is faithful to care for His flock. It is often when we try to take the reins that we burn ourselves out. Those who wait on the Lord have their strength renewed. They are those who run without growing weary and walk without being faint. When we choose our lives over His, that is when we exhaust ourselves.

The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God. My every moment of my every day is to be lived by faith in Jesus Christ. Should I, for a moment, take my eyes off of Him, I too will plunge in the depths of the torrential ocean beneath my feet. Like Peter I would call out for Jesus to save me. Faithfully, and immediately, He would. But should my eyes remain stayed on Jesus, I may walk upon the waters that threaten to take me.

Who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Is this not the Gospel message? We can trust Jesus to carry out the work that He began in us! If He gave up His life for us, will He withhold is perfect will of sanctification from us? As we fully entrust ourselves to Him, let us remember that we are entrusting ourselves to a God who loves us and seeks the absolute best for us. It may hurt at times, but the reward is far worth it. He suffered horribly that we may run to Him. He will continue to give us all we need.

Let us give of ourselves fully to Him and to His purposes. As a mentor of mine shared with me, give your time to the Redeemer so that the Redeemer will redeem your time. Amen.

How can you give your all to Christ today?

What sense does it make for us to claim the name of Christ and walk in opposition to Him? If you are in sincere in your pursuit of Christ, what sense does it make to run back to the old way of doing things? Yesterday, we talked about the "Good Enough" Deception. We highlighted what foolishness it is to believe that we could simply be good enough and outweigh our mistakes. Indeed, we need Jesus. We need to walk by faith in Him. But now that we know that, what follows?

This is the very issue Paul is getting at. If it was not works that could save us, but faith alone, why then do we believe it will be works that will continue the path of salvation? It is as though in accepting Jesus we believe that was the secret sauce to us now being able to be good enough. Do we not realize that we in our flesh are still not good enough? It is only Christ in us that is sufficient for any good work or any good thing.

The Christian must not say of himself, "Look at how good I have become!" As though he may boast in himself. Let him instead say, "Look at how good Christ is!" Let the boast be of Jesus and Him alone. Those who have drawn near to Christ in faith must by faith continue. It is by this that we will find Christ in all and through all.

The attitude that this requires is an attitude of humility. We want to think well of ourselves and feel as though we have accomplished something. Do not be deceived by your own pride! See that God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. It is the lowest valley that fills up first. Do not puff yourself up or exalt yourself. Make it the highest practice to lower yourself more before Christ Jesus. Your works are not good enough. Praise be to God that Jesus is. Amen.

How can you humble yourself before Christ today?

One of the greatest deceptions I have run into is what I will call the "Good Enough" Deception. Whether I myself am witnessing to someone, or I am seeing someone else share the gospel, many seem to be under the same impression that they are good enough to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Even among believers, I have found many have their "good works" in their back pocket just in case the whole faith thing doesn't work out. Men try to be justified by their good works. Many think that if their good outweighs their bad then they will be freed of any accountability to their actions. Well let's try that out and see how that plays in the real world.

An officer pulls you over for speeding. "But officer! Did you see all the stop lights I stopped at? I even came to a full stop at the stop sign! Doesn't my good driving mean I don't get a ticket?" After picking himself up from laughter, surely you'd get your citation.

A husband is caught cheating on his wife. "But honey! Look at the years I gave to you faithfully! I even did the dishes and took out the trash. Don't my good husband moments outweigh the bad?" Such behavior is atrocious.

A man is apprehended for murder. "Sure, I killed the one guy. But look at all the one's I didn't kill! I even gave a homeless man some money! I helped other people. I shouldn't get in trouble for it." We would scream injustice!

It doesn't matter if someone was "good enough." The stain of their sin is upon them. If it were possible for anyone to be good enough through the law then there would have been no need for Jesus to come. But such is not the case. The only hope we have is placing our full trust in Him and Him alone. Let us get away from trusting in ourselves and our own works. Let us believe on the name of Jesus.

How can you walk by faith today?

It was a Sunday morning like many others. I had arrived at the church with my dad. He was setting up to play drums while I was getting my bass ready. Our worship pastor walks in and tells us that there is a lady sat outside our stage entrance door. My dad, myself, and our worship pastor all make way to meet this stranger. Her name was Charlotte. She would walk by our church and hear the music play every Sunday morning. Oh how she loved the music. We invited her in, though she turned it down. After some brief conversation, we made our way back inside.

Week by week, Charlotte became more of a permanent fixture of our Sunday mornings. She would sit there with a smile on her face as she heard the music play. Each of my siblings would also greet her and speak with her. She had been homeless for some years. She evidently had a complicated history of drugs and alcohol and she had her fair share of strange beliefs. Nevertheless, it was a joy to speak with her and shine the love of Christ.

Fast forward some years to when I am in college. I am talking with a person who claims to love Christ. We had many great conversations about the Lord and what our lives look like. Eventually, homelessness and poverty comes into the subject. With haste and zeal, the person I was talking with shared, "Oh I don't talk to homeless people. They are gross and they scare me." They proceeded to talk about how they don't understand poverty and how someone could even be poor. I was taken aback. This was so far from the character of Christ. I had no words.

Do we know that God does not show favoritism? In light of that truth, our lives must look like his. It is a rare trait to be able to make the statement that Paul just made. We highly esteem those who are highly esteemed. Should we meet a celebrity, everyone knows about it. When we talk with people who are in high places, we think we are making it. We see relationships with those in advantageous places adding something to us. Paul, however, did not see it as such. He saw the contrary. He came from the high places of scholarly Judaism and associated with the lowly.

Whether they be poor or whether they be rich, I long for us as believers to say the same as Paul. Whatever they are makes no difference to me. They are image bearers. They are in need of the light and love of Jesus. They add nothing to me for I have everything in Jesus. Should we live in such a way, we would associate with the lowly. We would not exalt the rich. We would not exalt wealth as we do in our culture. We would be left only to exalt the name of Jesus, no matter who we are around. Let us not show favoritism. Let us love with the same love that Jesus loved us.

How can you walk in love to your neighbor today?

Very early in my life I had to learn the valuable lesson that not everyone is who they say they are. It was jarring for me. I grew up believing and understanding that calling oneself a Christian really meant something. However, as I found myself at a Christian school I had found that many who claim the name of Christ wanting nothing to do with Him. Many would mock Him, if not by their words, then by their lifestyle. Not all who say they belong to Christ actually belong to Him. Some intend to use the name of Christ for their own personal gain. Others use the name of Christ simply to attack the Christian. Such is the case here in Galatians.

What are we to do then? Is it our responsibility to know everyone's business as to whether or not they are genuine? Surely, most of us would be inclined to say no. We are simply to mind ourselves. To an extent, we would be right. However, to another extent we would be wrong. There is something that Christians must learn to exercise. Discernment.

If we look at verse 5 in the above passage, we will see how Paul exercised this. False brothers coming in false pretenses were coming in order to spy that they may condemn the actions of those who were exercising their freedom in Jesus. A great danger laid in wait. However, Paul did not give in to them for a moment. He had his senses exercised to discern what sort they were. He did not need to be a busybody to determine this. He had the truth within them, and the truth found out those who were lying.
 
What happened when Paul left? The discernment he exercised was not shared among the Galatians. Such deceitful workers came in and led the congregation astray. Those who hesitate to exercise discernment as well as those that outright reject it subject themselves to the dangers of deception. And such had taken place for these believers. Paul's rebuke is necessary. Discernment is essential for the believer to exercise.

How can you exercise discernment in your life?

1Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, accompanied by Barnabas. I took Titus along also. 2I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I spoke privately to those recognized as leaders, for fear that I was running or had already run in vain. 3Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.  

4This issue arose because some false brothers had come in under false pretenses to spy on our freedom in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us. 5We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.  

6But as for the highly esteemed—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism —those leaders added nothing to me. 7On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted to preach the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised. 8For the One who was at work in Peter’s apostleship to the circumcised was also at work in my apostleship to the Gentiles.  

9And recognizing the grace that I had been given, James, Cephas, and John—those reputed to be pillars—gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. 10They only asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.  
 
11When Cephas came to Antioch, however, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself, for fear of those in the circumcision group. 13The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.  

14When I saw that they were not walking in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

15We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile “sinners” 16know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.  

17But if, while we seek to be justified in Christ, we ourselves are found to be sinners, does that make Christ a minister of sin? Certainly not! 18If I rebuild what I have already torn down, I prove myself to be a lawbreaker.  

19For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God. 20I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. 21I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.  
-Galatians 2 BSB

Let's join together and pray against the deception of the Church. Pray for your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that they would hold true to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray for your pastors and teachers that we would stay the course of the Word of God and not turn to any other doctrine. Pray for boldness to live out the truth for yourself.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not some clever ploy of man to make people feel at peace with God. It is divine. It is spiritual. It is from God Himself.
 
When we consider the life of Jesus and the good news that He proclaimed, we can see so much of the heart of the Father toward His people. Indeed, He spoke of things that cause us to tremble. He testified of darkness, of judgment, and of wrath. But for what purpose? Did He come and proclaim that and left the people hopeless? No! He came to warn His people that they may repent and turn toward Him! When Jesus came, He came to set the captive free. He healed the sick. He gave sight to the blind. The caused the lame to walk. He made man aware of His sin that he would be freed from it. For every difficult thing He promised His followers might endured, He promised to be with them, yea, even to the end of the age.

Man can lie. God cannot. The fact that this gospel comes from God means we can fully rely upon it and every promise found therein. Look upon how God has been faithful to every promise He has made! He has not failed. He will not fail. Take that simple truth and meditate upon it. The Gospel of Jesus Christ was given to us by a faithful God Who has never lied and never been unfaithful to His promises. You can trust Him.

What can you place your trust in God for today?

Are you a man pleaser? Or are you a God pleaser?
 
In my childhood, I was often warned of the dangerous influences of peer pressure. But not even they knew just how large of an issue it would become. As the internet grew and everyone became connected, eventually those who were warning me of peer pressure were themselves suffering the pressure of their own peers. Social media made it incredibly difficult for people to be their own persons. The approval of those around them became critical. Many well meaning believers stumbled into a realm they were unprepared to face. Their efforts to please God were not acknowledged. Their acts of obedience were slandered. Their testimonies were labeled as fake. Before long, the content of many believers changed from pleasing God to pleasing man. And we saw this in the day to day lives of many of these believers.

Approval of men. Let's examine ourselves together. Just how much of your life is dictated by what others think? When you got dressed this morning, were you considering what others would think of your outfit? When you took care of your hair or when you showered, how much were others in consideration? Consider your activity today. Did you laugh at a joke you shouldn't have, simply to fit in? Perhaps you joined in some gossip because you were being included in it. Are you listening to music, or watching shows or movies so that you might be able to join the conversation? Do you restrain offering praises to God or sharing testimony of the Lord in order to not ruffle any feathers? These questions barely scratch the surface of how the approval of men can affect us. But it is in our face all the time, and it was for those in Galatia. Paul had to reject the approval of men and was persecuted for it. He opted instead to live for the approval of God.

Approval of God. Let's continue our examination. How much of your life is dictated by what God thinks? When you got dressed this morning, did you consider if God was pleased with what you were wearing? How about how you did your hair, or when you were showing? Was God considered in that? Consider your activity today. Have you restrained yourself from participation from sinful things that you may be pleasing in the sight of the Lord? Have you contended for justice and righteousness in your workplace, in your family, and among your friends? Have you sat in prayer and meditation with the Lord? Have you studied His word instead of engaging in the trap of entertainment? Are you willing to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow after Him?
 
These are challenging questions. Do not allow yourself to be deceived in one direction or another. Simply pray and ask that the Lord would reveal to you whose approval you are living for. He is faithful. If you find that you are living for the approval of men, I call you into repentance and want to remind you that the grace of God is sufficient to bring you into His righteousness and cleanse you from all wickedness. Live now for the approval of God and God alone! If you find that you are indeed living for the approval of God, praise be to Him! Pray that the Lord would keep you in that! I also want to remind you that the grace of God is sufficient to keep you in that. You need not stumble in darkness as you walk in the light.

I pray for all of us that we would learn to live for the audience of One. Would our goal not be for the praise of man, but for the praise of God. His grace empowers and enables us to live faithfully for Him. So let us do that in His favor.

How can you live for the approval of God today?

Matthew 24-25 is famously known as being called the Olivet Discourse. It is here that Jesus speaks of the end times. He offers warning and speaks to the Great Tribulation. In these warnings He speaks of the wars and rumors of wars that we often quote. In this, do you know what Jesus warns of four times more than anything else? Do we know what the number one indicator of the end times is? Deception. Jesus warns of deception four times more than any other warning. Just about every book in the New Testament warns of deception, of false teachers, of false prophets, or of the wolves in sheep's clothing. Jesus warned of the many who would come in His name. Jesus warns that many would be led astray. We have an example set for us in the church of Galatia of the dangers of following a different gospel.

See what Paul says here. He was amazed at how they turned so quickly for a different gospel. What does that tell you about how they received the gospel when given to them? They received it with joy! They were showing promise. Paul even acknowledges this as the case throughout the letter. Just because someone might be starting well does not mean they will continue well. We can take that for ourselves as a critical lesson. In my own walk, there were many points where I relied on the fact that I had at one time followed the Lord closely so I must be okay. But the Lord called me out of those places and helped me to see the error of that thought.

Consider how Israel was to gather manna in the wilderness. They could not gather up enough to store for days on end. Any extra that was gathered would rot. They had to collect it daily. The manna that comes from the Lord must be sought after daily. We cannot rely on past revelation for today's sustenance. We can learn from past revelation that today's sustenance will be there today. When we stop depending entirely upon Jesus to sustain us, we open ourselves up to a different gospel. This is what happened to the church in Galatia.

Be cautious of the doctrines of this world! Scripture would not warn so much of deception if it was obvious. The nature of deception is that it is deceiving. A good counterfeit looks much like the original. The enemy knows of our good intentions and will play right into those. The church of Galatia really wanted to honor the Lord. The core things were lost to them though. It is Jesus plus nothing. We bring nothing to the table but empty vessels for the Lord to use as He sees fit. All that is pleasing to the Lord is what He supplies.

Study the Scriptures carefully. Do not neglect the gathering of the saints. Be careful what input you allow into your life. Be on guard as the enemy prowls around like a roaring lion. If he can, he will seek to devour you. Give no room for the enemy. Give no room for the flesh. Pray and trust that the Lord will lead you from deception and from every plot of the enemy. If you are in Christ Jesus, the Spirit of God dwells within you. Trust Him to lead you faithfully.

How can you daily receive your sustenance from the Lord?

"What does Jesus save you from?"

How would you answer this question? Your answer may reveal more about your theology than you realize. For most of my life, I'd have probably answered along the lines of, "Jesus saved me from hell." And I would be right, as would you be if you answered the same. As I developed in my Christian walk, my answer would have evolved into something more like, "Jesus saved me from the penalty of sin." That is good! There is a bit more theology behind it. It was not just hell that endangered me. My sin is what was putting me there.

The development of this thought grew even further. "Jesus saved me not just from the penalty of sin, but from the power of sin." This becomes a profound truth, and the impact is empowering for the believer to overcome sin in their life. As I have further matured in my walk, the weight of that revelation led me further from sin and further into righteousness. The salvation that comes from Jesus does not stop there.

Again, I ask, how would you answer this question?

You may say Jesus saved us from sin, from the devil, from darkness, from hell, from judgment, from wrath, or even from ourselves! All of these are true. Would we answer the same as Paul does in Galatians here? Jesus saved us from the present evil age.

Let's understand a bit of context here. The church of Galatia was in trouble. Among the letters that Paul writes, Galatians is perhaps the most critical. The problem is that the culture around the church of Galatia was putting a lot of pressure of this church. They fell for a false doctrine and committed to a false gospel. In other words, they were forsaking the Gospel of Jesus Christ for whatever the counterfeit was! Paul's purpose in writing this letter is to call them back to the core truths. To begin this, He reminds them of Who Jesus is. He is their salvation, not just of sin and darkness, but of this present evil age.

We can certainly find ourselves dealing with the pressures of our culture. It is the nature of the world to beckon all to conform to itself. But it is the nature of Christ to conform the Christian to Himself. So then it is the nature of the Christian to conform, not to this world, but to the image of the Son. You may feel the pressures of this world all around you. I pray that you would be assured by the words of Paul that Jesus rescues us from this present evil age. You can place your trust fully in Him. The beauty of this is that it is in that fullness of trust that we truly can abide in the grace and peace imparted to us from the Lord.

What other things does Jesus save you from?

Grace and peace... two things that are pursuits of the life of the believer. I have never met anyone who did not want more grace and peace imparted to them. But for those that pursue such things, just where is it that they are looking? They look for grace from friends, family, and coworkers alike. For peace, they look for it in their day to day habits, hoping that entertainment and stimulation will fulfill that void in their hearts. Some hope that minimalism and quietness will achieve such a feat. All of these become vain hopes, however.
 
As Paul writes to the church of Galatia, he begins just as any letter written in the First Century would be written, with an impartation of blessing. In our modern understanding, it might look like when we draft a text, email, or give a phone call, "Good morning! I hope you are doing well. I was just calling about..." But just because this is expected behavior does not make the blessing he offers any less profound. The blessing is an impartation of grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
God our Father. God is God. I know this may come as an underwhelming revelation, but we must understand that God is God. I fear, at least to the extent that I have seen this in myself, that when we call God Father, we diminish the extent to which He is God. We believe impossible things of God. We believe He spoke all things into motion. By the Word of His mouth, everything that came to be came to be. We believe He formed man from the dirt, breathed into that dirt and caused man to stand up. We believe in His judgment of the world at the time of Noah. We believe He faithfully saved Lot when Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed. We believe impossible things of God, but of our Father we expect so little.

Do we see that this very same God that we call Father is the very One Who rules all with righteous judgment? Do we see that He is the One from Whom all blessings flow? This God that we call Father is the very source of grace and peace. Sure, others may wield counterfeit types of this, but true grace and peace can only come from God. And He being our Father will surely give us all things. May we then trust in God our Father to impart grace and peace to us as well. Let us draw near in full assurance of faith.

The Lord Jesus Christ. A struggle that mounted in my mind early in the faith was the many believers I was surrounded with that were so willing to call Jesus Savior but so timid to call Him Lord. Here is the kicker. Jesus is Lord whether or not you believe it to be so. He reigns upon His throne and has all things in heaven and earth given to Him. As the image of the invisible God, Jesus serves as the expression of the grace and peace that comes from the Father. As we believe upon the Son, grace is imparted to us. It is through the body and blood of Jesus that we are granted peace with God.

These two do not come in part, but they come together as a whole. Grace and peace come through God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Are you willing to trust in the Lord for grace and peace today?