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Week 2

Thanks for stopping in today at Faith Lifts. Last week, I introduced a new devotional series based on the book of Galatians. I’d love for you to read that post and take the Faith Walking Challenge, but first I’d encourage you to jump right as we look at a few key verses from chapter one!

Galatians 1:1-10 NLT

1 This letter is from Paul, an apostle. I was not appointed by any group of people or any human authority, but by Jesus Christ himself and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead.

2 All the brothers and sisters here join me in sending this letter to the churches of Galatia.

3 May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

4 Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live.

5 All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.

6 I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News

7 but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.

8 Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you.

9 I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.

10 Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.

Galatians was a book written by the apostle Paul to the people of Galatia. It was not, however, addressed to a particular church, but rather to the Christians living in the region. They were people Paul felt deeply connected to, which is why he referred to them as brothers and sisters. His concern for the state of the Galatians faith was the driving force behind this particular letter. For this reason, it was important that he establish the fact that he was writing not on his own authority but under the authority of Christ—equal to that of the original twelve apostles (v. 1).

Paul hurried through his opening greeting and quickly challenged the Gentile Christians in Galatia for turning away from God and following wrong doctrine. The radical Jewish Christians, known as Judaizers, preached that in order to become a Christian, you must become a Jew through circumcision as well as following all the Jewish laws and customs. Paul was so highly concerned for the many Galatians that were submitting to this false doctrine, that he invoked a curse from God on anyone, including himself and the angels, that preached a different kind of Good News other than the one preached from Jesus Christ (v. 6).

Paul knew that his words were about to stir up quite a commotion, but he knew why he was doing it. In verse 10, he writes, “Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.” Just think about the number of times many of us have paraphrased this verse, especially during character-stretching moments: I’ll do it for God, not for people! Many of us have preached this verse to our kids: Do it for God, and not so that everyone will like you more! It is an easy verse to translate into modern language and let roll off our lips, but truly, how many of us really live it out? How many of us are willing to do the hard thing, preach the hard message, live life God’s way, because we’re sincerely concerned with serving Him and not pleasing people?

Let me be the first to confess. I’ve quoted this verse more times than I can count, yet in reality, I have been more concerned with pleasing people than with seeking God’s approval on many, many occasions. It plays out in the ordinary situations that don’t require, or afford, processing time. Driving faster than the speed limit because someone is riding my bumper and I don’t want to fuel road rage. People pleasing! Gossiping with a friend and not ending the conversation because I’m afraid I might make her upset. People pleasing! Making the decision to indirectly answer a question because I am afraid they won’t like my answer. People pleasing! I do it all the time. But if I stopped, just for a moment, and considered what God would want me to do—i.e., how to be Christ’s servant in this situation—maybe I would be more inclined to seek the approval of God rather than people.

Heavenly Father, we come before you with humbled hearts—realizing that Paul was so focused on seeking your approval and serving Christ, that he was willing to give a tough message to the believers. We know that we often fall short and dismiss serving you in order to receive the approval of others. Lord Jesus, sharpen our hearts and minds to see the ways we can serve you in the way Paul served you years ago, living for your approval alone! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Faith Walking

• What false doctrines do you believe?
• Are you trying to follow laws and customs in order to ensure your salvation and place in heaven?
• Do you know that your salvation comes from believing that Jesus Christ died on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins and that He rose again on the third day? Read Romans 3:21-28 to learn more. If you have more questions, we hope you’ll contact Faith Lifts for help finding the answers.

The Next Step

Spend time in prayer and reflection about what it means to seek the approval of God alone and to be Christ’s servant. Be open to asking the Lord to forgive you for the ways you know you people please. Finish your time with the Lord by reading through the first ten verses of Galatians again. If you have time, continue reading through the end of chapter one.

Faith Walking Challengers…

We want to know how your Faith Walking Challenge is going so that we can continue to pray specifically for you! We’d love to have you leave a comment or post about it at your blog—just be sure to leave us a link!

Galatians Devotional 2 in Word

Galatians Devotional 2 in PDF

This devotional is downloadable and printable for your personal use. However, It may not be reprinted for distribution with out permission from Elisa. You may contact her at extragrace (at) gmail (.) com.

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