Galatians 1-2

The following post will be difficult to write - I'm going to have to lay my soul bare and reveal how imperfect I am. Not an easy thing to do! Nor enjoyable...

Paul is a strong icon of faith; wholly pursuing God and His Will without shame; speaking boldly about God and proclaiming His Salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, regarding his life and safety as nothing. His only aim is pleasing God.

In verse 10 of chapter 1 he says, "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." Emphasis mine.

In Galatians chapter 2, he boldly upbraids Peter for eating comfortably with the Gentiles when no one was around. But as soon as his past showed up in the form of circumcised Jews, he became afraid, and pulled away from the uncircumcised Greeks.

verses 12 "Before certain men came from James, he (Peter) used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group."

Notice the chain reaction that Peter's first action produces:

verse 13 "The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray."

What??!? Even Barnabas, the son of encouragement, is led astray?

Paul is the only one whose thought is for what God wants him to do rather than pleasing men.

When I first read this, I was surprised. Peter and Barnabas, two very strong Christians, paragons of the early church, are afraid of what others might say so they act differently.

Then God gently nudged me and reminded me that when I signed up for a popular networking site, I too was afraid of what my past friends would think of me, so I was lukewarm about declaring my faith for fear of offending them. I wanted their approval!

What??!? Me, a strong Christian, am led astray by fear of what others might think of me? True...

(Sigh.) I just despise that fleshy side of me.

What should be imprinted on our hearts by the lessons here?

1. Our heart's desire must be for pleasing God, regardless of what man may think of us. Remember, the world may hate us because we are not of the world, and that's okay... Furthermore, if our desire is to please man, we are not servants of Christ.
2. Be bold in declaring God's word, regardless of unpleasant consequences.
3. Admonish our brothers whose actions may hurt the faith of other Christians, even non-Christians. Our actions, or fears, or shame, may begin a chain reaction that hurts others, either in their walk with God or in accepting the Gospel message.
4. Be not ashamed of who we are in Jesus Christ, lest Jesus Christ be ashamed of us when we meet Him.

Prayer:
God, bless us through the power of Your Holy Spirit, to grow in boldness and strength in order that we may fearlessly declare Your Word. Give us a heart that wants to please only You. Remove from us any desire to please men and make us true servants of Jesus Christ. In His Holy Name, Amen!

Afterthought:
After writing this post, I shared it with my youngest son Preston (11yo). He asked why he was not afraid of saying that he wasn't perfect. I told him because he had no pride. He asked if I had pride. I said, "Yes, sadly. But I'm working on it." :)

I went to my email and opened up the Encouraging Word for today from K-Love. Haha. Here is what it said!

"Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom." Proverbs 11:12 NLT

God has the best sense of humor! I love His loving guidance.