Galatians

So today was the last of the seven days reading through Galatians. Here are kind of some thoughts on it.

"If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ." ~Galatians 1:10

This is a verse that really stuck out to me each and every time I read it. This was written by Paul. You can read all about his story in Acts. It's actually quite wonderful to hear. I just read through it for the past month. God really transformed that man's life, and there is no reason to think he can't do the same for us. But anyways back on topic, the reason this verse stuck out to me is that I realize I still have a ways to go. As I have been strongly considering a career in ministry, I realize that is the mindset I will need to have. There will probably be some opposition from people, especially if I were to have a good job opportunity with physics. I realize that I must not serve the people around me or myself, but instead I should serve God, whatever that may mean.

"The righteous will live by faith." ~Galatians 3:11

"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." ~Galatians 5:6

These really impacted me in that we should live by faith and not with our eyes. There is nothing we can do to become righteous other than living by faith. Paul writes a lot about how people insisted on being circumcised, but in doing so, we separate ourselves from God's grace and bind ourselves to the law. By trying to appeal to God on our own by trying to outwardly show our devotion, we create a gap between us and God. We do this a lot today, not with circumcision, but with many other things. We try to show others how righteous we are by doing certain things, but in reality, we are only hurting ourselves in doing so.

"Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?" ~Galatians 3:3

This is yet another example that I see so often in my life and in the lives of others. In tough times we may lean on God more, and he pulls us out of it. As soon as that happens, we again turn away and begin to try it out on our own again. Why do we fail to see that we need God in both our times of trouble and our times of prosperity. We should praise and glorify him at the peaks and the valleys. Without Him, we can do nothing, but so often we forget that.

And here I shall end with the first verse I ever memorized and one that I carry on my necklace. It speaks of how we must die to this world just as Jesus did, and that we should live instead for God.

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." ~Galatians 2:20