LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Redemption
Heirs to the Promise
Galatians 4:12-20
The Message
12-13My
dear friends, what I would really like you to do is try to put
yourselves in my shoes to the same extent that I, when I was with you,
put myself in yours. You were very sensitive and kind then. You did not
come down on me personally. You were well aware that the reason I ended
up preaching to you was that I was physically broken, and so, prevented
from continuing my journey, I was forced to stop with you. That is how I
came to preach to you.
14-16And don't you remember that even though taking in a sick guest was most troublesome for you, you chose to treat me as well as you would have treated an angel of God—as well as you would have treated Jesus himself if he had visited you? What has happened to the satisfaction you felt at that time? There were some of you then who, if possible, would have given your very eyes to me—that is how deeply you cared! And now have I suddenly become your enemy simply by telling you the truth? I can't believe it.
17Those heretical teachers go to great lengths to flatter you, but their motives are rotten. They want to shut you out of the free world of God's grace so that you will always depend on them for approval and direction, making them feel important.
18-20It is a good thing to be ardent in doing good, but not just when I am in your presence. Can't you continue the same concern for both my person and my message when I am away from you that you had when I was with you? Do you know how I feel right now, and will feel until Christ's life becomes visible in your lives? Like a mother in the pain of childbirth. Oh, I keep wishing that I was with you. Then I wouldn't be reduced to this blunt, letter-writing language out of sheer frustration.
14-16And don't you remember that even though taking in a sick guest was most troublesome for you, you chose to treat me as well as you would have treated an angel of God—as well as you would have treated Jesus himself if he had visited you? What has happened to the satisfaction you felt at that time? There were some of you then who, if possible, would have given your very eyes to me—that is how deeply you cared! And now have I suddenly become your enemy simply by telling you the truth? I can't believe it.
17Those heretical teachers go to great lengths to flatter you, but their motives are rotten. They want to shut you out of the free world of God's grace so that you will always depend on them for approval and direction, making them feel important.
18-20It is a good thing to be ardent in doing good, but not just when I am in your presence. Can't you continue the same concern for both my person and my message when I am away from you that you had when I was with you? Do you know how I feel right now, and will feel until Christ's life becomes visible in your lives? Like a mother in the pain of childbirth. Oh, I keep wishing that I was with you. Then I wouldn't be reduced to this blunt, letter-writing language out of sheer frustration.
For Reflection
When times are difficult, we are renewed by the memories of our encounters with the Holy Spirit. Rely on God. Let no one convince you that the right path to salvation is dependent on the approval of human egos. How do you deal with those who preach dependence on them?
Pray
thanking God for the sacrifice of the Cross. Pray that you will see all as equals in the Kingdom of God. Pray that we will move beyond the divisions that separate us. Pray that your will celebrate the differences among us as gifts of the one body of true believers.
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