What happened?

You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?- Galatians 5.7

It can be easy to get a good start in godly living. A person gets saved, or makes a decision to really serve the Lord, and for a while everything goes well. But something always seems to happen. It may not be this particular error, but something always seems to hinder us in our walk. 

We have all been there. We have all seen it in ourselves and each other. 

It's a fair question. What happens to all those believers who seem to make a great start but eventually fizzle out? I have a lot of friends here who seemd at one time to be really on fire for God but eventually have become dull and lukewarm and maybe even are no longer living for Christ. 

Judging by the context and based on what I have experienced and seen I think I am going to put forth an idea. 

It seem to me in the light of the context that the thing that hindered them was the legalised living that was required of them. When a person is first saved there is a natural fire and fervency. There is a great start. But if they are not careful pretty soon someone starts loading them up with all kinds of outward expectations about what it means to be spiritual. They make it impossible to meet up to the expectations and pretty soon the new believer gets discouraged and just give up. 

Instead of being taught to live out their faith in love they are hindered by man made restrictions. Nobody can ever fully meet up to those kind of things, but everyone can love.