For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. - Galatians 1v10
One could almost be forgiven for thinking that he was still reading 2 Corinthians once he starts reading Galatians. The first thing that Paul addresses after his greetings and introductions is the tendency of the people to be drawn back to the law and those who demanded conformity to it. “I am surprised,” he said,” that you are so quick to desert Christ for these men.” The Judaizers taught that the gospel and the law were inextricably linked. They taught that one had to keep the law to be saved, and that keeping the law was the only proof that one really was saved.
The Galatians were being moved to please and satisfy these men instead of Christ Himself. Christ preached a gospel of grace and liberty. Notice He did not preach a gospel of licence and licentiousness, but of grace and liberty. He also did not preach a gospel of legalism. He preached a gospel of grace and liberty.
How does this play out? Paul makes it clear; I cannot be a bondservant of Christ if I am constantly striving to please men and their rules and regulations. I would not love my brethren if I purposefully caused them to stumble or flaunted my liberty to serve my flesh, but at the same time pleasing men cannot be my motivator.
Seek peace where we can. Do not purposefully offend. Do not do things to throw liberty in the face of others. Be sensitive to others. But do not seek to please men. Seek to please Him and trust Him with the results.
1 comment:
This is the struggle(ok! one of the struggles) of my life--who will I allow to be bigger in my mind - God or people?
I mean, God did manage to speak a wondrous world into existence--so wondrous that we're still uncovering mysteries. But we try to diminish His creativity by saying He didn't know what He was saying in His Word and what He REALLY should have said was (women have to wear dresses, men wear short hair, treat this person like garbage because they don't agree with you, etc.) If we could just allow people to be who God created them to be and not try to pigeonhole them into some preconceived notion of spirituality (and not allow ourselves to be less than God's intention as well), we'd all be a lot better off.
"It was Love that set this fragile planet rolling
Tilting at our perfect twenty-three
Molecules and men infused with holy
Finding our way around the galaxy
And Paradise has up and flown away for now
But hope still breathes and truth is always true
And just when we think it's almost over
Love has the final move
Love has the final move"
Just like Chris Rice says in his song, Truth is always true. We just have to know what God's Truth is and live it without apology and speak it in Love.
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