An Important Challenge: Galatians 2:11-21 NLT

"But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong." (Galatians 2:11)

Wait. What? When we left off in the last post, we could almost hear the 1960s peace music playing and see the rainbows. Now they're fighting? What happened between verses 10 and 11 that led us to this point? What did Peter, a "pillar of the church" do?

To understand that, you need to know a few things about Peter first. Peter was one of Jesus's original twelve disciples. He was also Jewish. It wasn't until a scene in Acts 10:9-16 that Peter let go of the old Jewish customs. He had a dream (or a vision), sent from God, that showed him he no longer had to worry about what he was eating. Read Leviticus 11, and you'll see there was a long list of things they weren't to eat! This also indicated that he no longer had to worry about who ate at his table. Before Jesus, Jewish people weren't permitted to eat with non-Jewish people. It wasn't done. It was one of their laws. After Jesus, that all changed.

"When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile believers, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy." (Galatians 2:12-13)

Before "some friends of James came," Peter had been seen with many Gentile believers. He had accepted them as fellow believers without question. After those "friends" showed up- and keep in mind that James was also Jewish so it's likely that those friends were people trying to force Jewish customs on Christians- Peter was snubbing them. His actions created this chain reaction among the believers that Paul knew wasn't okay. You see, the mistakes that we make don't just affect us. They affect all those around us too. It's an added negative effect of sin.

"When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the others, 'Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions?

'You and I are Jews by birth, not "sinners" like the Gentiles. Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.'" (Galatians 2:14-16)

Wow. That took guts. Paul spoke the truth in love here. There's a big difference between speaking the truth in love and throwing it in someone's face. Paul called Peter out in love here. He reminded Peter of their united purpose, of who he truly was. He urged him not to be bullied into following the old customs that Jesus died to free him from. Because, as Paul said, "no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law." This is a great reminder for us too. We can't do anything to be accepted by God. Our "good works" will never be enough. All that God asks us to do is believe and accept Jesus's gift to us. He died on the cross in our place. He took on our sins upon himself so that we could be made right with God. Nothing we do will ever compare to that gift!

" But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not! Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down. For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God." (Galatians 2:17-19)

Paul is really speaking to other Jewish people who are still afraid to go all in for Christ. This is a great reminder. We are only made right through Jesus. Furthermore, following the old laws, going back to the "old way" isn't going to fix anything. Paul doesn't want to see anyone tempted to fall back into old habits here. He wants them to stop feeling guilty and trying to do enough. They can't do enough.

I found this passage from the Bible Gateway Commentary particularly interesting and want to share it here: "If we feel that Paul was unnecessarily harsh or rude for rebuking Peter in public, we need to recall that the freedom of all Gentile Christians and the whole future of the Gentile mission was at stake. What if Peter's separation had set a precedent for the future so that all Gentile Christians really were required to become Jews? From a human perspective, such a precedent would have spelled the end of the Gentile church."

Can you imagine if Paul had said nothing? Christianity as we know it might not exist. It might be totally and completely, irreversibly different.

Paul ends this section of his letter to the Galatians like this: "My old self has been crucified with Christ.[e] It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die." (Galatians 2: 20-21)

Oh that we could all remember this each and every day. We are to be living our lives with God at the wheel (anyone remember that Carrie Underwood song? No? Just me? Okay, then...moving on). We need to be so in tune and close to Jesus that we know what he is wanting us to do. How do we do that? Through lots of prayer, studying the Bible, reading the Bible, listening to trusted leaders, and listening for God's voice!

Praying for you all today!

A Meeting in Jerusalem: Galatians 2:1-10 NLT

"Then fourteen years later I went back to Jerusalem again, this time with Barnabas; and Titus came along, too. I went there because God revealed to me that I should go. While I was there I met privately with those considered to be leaders of the church and shared with them the message I had been preaching to the Gentiles. I wanted to make sure that we were in agreement, for fear that all my efforts had been wasted and I was running the race for nothing." (Galatians 2:1-2 NLT)

Diving right into this one, I find it quite interesting that Paul says in verse two, "I wanted to make sure that we were in agreement, for fear that all my efforts had been wasted and I was running the race for nothing." Paul received his assignment, his message straight from Jesus himself on the road to Damascus, which we looked at just yesterday. Remember that he didn't consult with the other apostles about his message. In fact, the large majority of the other apostles were afraid of Paul. He'd spent years persecuting them and having them killed. They suspected he was a spy. The apostle who came forward and embraced him as one of their own? Barnabas! Barnabas was a respected Jewish Apostle whose name literally means "Son of Encouragement." In Acts, we get to see him standing up for Paul and letting the other apostles know that he was okay. He was a literal encourager for Paul and with a name like that, you can be sure he was encouraging others as well. In one commentary I've read, it says that Barnabas' given name is actually Joseph. Barnabas is a nickname given to him by apostles because he was so encouraging. *aside over*

Getting back to these verses- When I first read this passage, I thought it perhaps meant that Paul had some doubts about his message. And who could blame him? Despite the fact that he'd received his message straight from God and very likely spent years alone in Arabia listening to God's voice (all amazing things, by the way), he had no confirmation from anyone who'd walked alongside Jesus while he was here on Earth and sometimes, as imperfect people, we think we need approval from others. That isn't what this is though. In reading through some commentary on this passage, this is really the start of a meeting in Jerusalem to unite the church as one. Everybody needs to be on the same page so they can grow this church- not the building, the body.

"And they supported me and did not even demand that my companion Titus be circumcised, though he was a Gentile." (Galatians 2:3 NLT)

Titus was a Greek Apostle. This means that he was a Gentile. He wasn't Jewish. He wasn't following any Jewish customs. And up until this point, there were many preaching Jesus Plus. Jesus Plus could be defined as needing to accept Jesus's gift PLUS follow along with all of the Jewish customs, including circumcision. But the leadership said nothing about that.

I love that these leaders of the church came together and met with one another, praying and discussing the gospel. They met with one another and made sure they were all on the same page, united as one body in Christ. And they embraced one another right where they were. They demonstrated an amazing truth for us all: God loves and accepts us exactly as we are. We don't need to fix anything to come to Jesus. We don't need to try to be perfect in order to come to him and have a relationship. We can come in the midst of our mess and Jesus will love us right there.

Paul saw through the demands of others to have his companion circumcised and had this to say: "Even that question came up only because of some so-called believers there—false ones, really—who were secretly brought in. They sneaked in to spy on us and take away the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. They wanted to enslave us and force us to follow their Jewish regulations. But we refused to give in to them for a single moment. We wanted to preserve the truth of the gospel message for you." (Galatians 2:4-5 NLT)

"And the leaders of the church had nothing to add to what I was preaching. (By the way, their reputation as great leaders made no difference to me, for God has no favorites.)" (Galatians 2:6 NLT)

There are a couple of things to point out in this verse. First, Paul received the confirmation he needed to keep going from these leaders of the church, creating unity among them. They let him know that they agreed with what he was saying and urged him to keep up the good work. They had "nothing to add" to what Paul was preaching. The other interesting thing here is the aside that Paul includes- "God has no favorites." Have you ever noticed that when you get a coffee from a fast food place, it says "Caution: contents are hot and may burn you (or something like that)?" Or that your hair dryer warns you not to use it in the bathtub? When I see these "obvious" warnings, I always wonder who was crazy enough to try some of these things? Why do we need this warning? But you know if it's there, it's there for a reason. I suspect that this little aside from Paul is the same. I wonder if he has added this because it was something that came up over time among the new believers?

"Instead, they saw that God had given me the responsibility of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as he had given Peter the responsibility of preaching to the Jews. For the same God who worked through Peter as the apostle to the Jews also worked through me as the apostle to the Gentiles. In fact, James, Peter, and John, who were known as pillars of the church, recognized the gift God had given me, and they accepted Barnabas and me as their co-workers. They encouraged us to keep preaching to the Gentiles, while they continued their work with the Jews." (Galatians 2:7-9)

The Bible Gateway Commentary* had this to say about this passage: "Paul says that when the leaders saw something (vv. 7-8) and recognized something (v. 9), they gave the right hand of fellowship to Paul and Barnabas and agreed that they should continue their ministry to the Gentiles. What they saw was God at work in Paul's ministry (v. 8). What they recognized was the grace given to him (v. 9). Just as the miraculous work of God in Peter's ministry validated his call to preach the gospel to the Jews, so also the miraculous work of God in Paul's ministry was irrefutable evidence that God had given him the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles (vv. 7-8)." Isn't that amazing? It basically means that the leaders of the church could see evidence of God at work in Paul's ministry! They could see the fingers of God and therefore knew that Paul was telling the truth. They encouraged him to keep going. They only added one thing:

"Their only suggestion was that we keep on helping the poor, which I have always been eager to do." (Galatians 2:10)

I've read suggestions that this verse points more specifically to the church in Jerusalem, that the leaders wanted to be sure Paul's gentile mission wouldn't harm the Jerusalem church. I'd like to believe that it means exactly what it says- help the poor.

I'm going to take a break over the weekend, but I'll be back with more of this study on Monday. So far, Galatians has been very interesting. I hope you're learning as much as I am. Have a great weekend!

* Bible Gateway Commentary: https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/Gal/Conference-Jerusalem

The Good and the Bad: Galatians 1:11-24 NLT

Can we start things off a little differently today? Read through Galatians 1:11-24 so that we're on the same page as I move forward in my thinking:

"Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel message I preach is not based on mere human reasoning. 12 I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ.

13 You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it. 14 I was far ahead of my fellow Jews in my zeal for the traditions of my ancestors.

15 But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him 16 to reveal his Son to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles.

When this happened, I did not rush out to consult with any human being. 17 Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away into Arabia, and later I returned to the city of Damascus.

18 Then three years later I went to Jerusalem to get to know Peter, and I stayed with him for fifteen days. 19 The only other apostle I met at that time was James, the Lord’s brother. 20 I declare before God that what I am writing to you is not a lie.

21 After that visit I went north into the provinces of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And still the churches in Christ that are in Judea didn’t know me personally. 23 All they knew was that people were saying, 'The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to destroy!' 24 And they praised God because of me."*

In the last chapter of Holley Gerth's book, "You're Already Amazing: Embracing Who You Are, Becoming All God Created You to Be," she describes Paul: "The same Paul who ended up writing to the early churches started out being belligerent, overzealous, and an oppressive leader. After Jesus appeared to him, Paul was determined, enthusiastic, and an encouraging leader."

Paul said this about himself in 1 Timothy 1:13- "even though I used to blaspheme the name of Christ. In my insolence, I persecuted his people. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief."

And this: "This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all." (1 Timothy 1:15)

Also this: " 'I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus the Nazarene. Indeed, I did just that in Jerusalem. Authorized by the leading priests, I caused many believers there to be sent to prison. And I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death. Many times I had them punished in the synagogues to get them to curse Jesus. I was so violently opposed to them that I even chased them down in foreign cities.'" (Acts 26:9-11)

Remember, Paul also had this to say for himself in Galatians 1:13-14 (NLT)- "You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it. I was far ahead of my fellow Jews in my zeal for the traditions of my ancestors."

As he writes this letter (and many others), Paul is the same man with the same characteristics, but they are readjusted, molded, and shaped to be used for God's glory by God's amazing grace. God uses Paul to reach some of the very people he was persecuting. Do you realize that the first time we met Paul in Acts (Saul of Tarsus at the time), he was standing to the side watching Stephen (an apostle of Christ) be stoned to death? And he joins in on that crusade, hunting and killing Christians for the God of Heaven? He was basically a religious terrorist!** But Jesus himself grabbed a hold of Paul and reworked every part of him. He took the loud, opinionated, judgmental, overzealous pieces of Paul's heart and He molded them like clay to be something he could use for His glory- reaching out to Gentiles (non-Jewish people) and leading them to Jesus with grace and truth.

Do you see that Paul didn't go around talking to Jesus's apostles or asking around for advice. He went straight to God himself to get the message he shared over and over again throughout the New Testament. Look at this with me: "When this happened, I did not rush out to consult with any human being. Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away into Arabia, and later I returned to the city of Damascus." (Galatians 1:16b-17) Look at that line in the middle of verse 17, "I went away to Arabia." In his book, "Paul: A Man of Grace and Grit," Charles Swindoll makes a compelling case for that line. He suggests- with the support of several other Bible scholars- that Paul went away for possibly up to three years and in that time, God spoke to Paul, changed Paul, got inside of Paul and showed him His perfect way so that Paul was better equipped to go out and share God's grace.

The other cool thing we learn about Paul in this passage is that he isn't afraid to air his dirty laundry and let everyone know what was going on with him before, during, and after his run-in with Jesus on the road to Damascus. He puts it all out there and lets God use it however he wants to use it. So often as Christians we think that we have to hide all of the imperfections. The enemy whispers in our ear that we can't be used, we aren't good enough, we aren't strong enough. We just aren't enough period. And it's all a lie that we're falling for. Especially as a woman, I fall for this one constantly. I hope it isn't just me. Even now, as I write this, I can hear that whisper happening- "You're the only one who feels that way." And I know it's a lie, but there's a part of me that wants to believe it.

I want to end with this: You never know what God is going to use from your past to affect His future. Look at these words from Paul: "All they knew was that people were saying, 'The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to destroy!' And they praised God because of me." (Galatians 1:23-24) We do not have to be- nor should we choose to be- prisoners of our pasts. We are free in Jesus only because of Jesus. It's time to let go of that past, let God use it however he wants to, and live here in the present fully committed to doing what Jesus asks us to do in our lives. If Paul can move forward and share this amazing grace with millions of people after his past, surely we can do our level best to share that same amazing grace with ourselves and others right here in the present.

* Selection of verses borrowed from Biblegateway.com, New Living Translation

**Check out Paul: A Man of Grace and Grit By Charles Swindoll for more interesting information about Paul's life.

Truth and Lies: Galatians 1:6-10 (NLT)

At church on Sunday, we watched a talk from Albert Tate that happened at the Global Leadership Summit in 2015. To start things off, Tate shared a story about two kids named Lies and Truth. They go skinny dipping at a lake and play fun swimming games like Marco Polo and Who Can Hold Their Breath the Longest. When it's Truth's turn to go under water and hold his breath, Lies jumps out of the water and runs home with his own clothes and Truth's clothes. Poor Truth is forced to walk through town naked to Lies' house to get his clothes. Once there, Lies is wearing Truth's clothes! He denies ever taking part in skinny dipping and even denies that Truth owns the clothes he is wearing. In the end, one has to decide: Will they believe Lies in Truth's clothing or will they believe the Naked Truth?

I'm telling you this story because it is very much like what was going on in Galatia at the time that Paul is writing this letter. In Galatians 1: 6-7, Paul says, "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 but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ." At some point (and it's not agreed on by scholars when exactly), Paul visited the region of Galatia- north or south, it really doesn't matter here. He shared his message that was received straight from Jesus himself on the road to Damascus. The Galatians formed a church then and there, embracing the truth that Paul shared. But then something happened. Something that happens a lot in the world, even today. There was a twist put on his words. Someone came along and started adding things, changing things. And it got to the point where Paul felt they didn't even believe or follow the real truth anymore! So much so that he sat down and wrote them this letter.

Paul wrote in Galatians 1:8-9, "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. 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." Look at that first part again: "Let God's curse fall on anyone..." This was a serious issue for Paul. The changes to the gospel message were so severe that Paul wished God's curse on anyone who continued preaching it. We can look more at those changes later, but for now what matters is that God- through Paul- is saying that he wants the straight and simple gospel followed. Remember that this was it from yesterday:

"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." - Galatians 1:4

John 3:16, quite possibly the most famous verse in the world says it this way: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."

That's it. That's the super simple version of the gospel. God loves us. He sent his son. His son died on the cross for our sins. He rose three days later giving us hope! Those who believe and accept that amazing, undeserved gift are part of God's family.

I love how Paul follows up his curse talk too: "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 1:10 NLT) It's a nice, "subtle" hint that we aren't called to please people. We're called to please Christ alone. I know I need that reminder a lot!

Tomorrow, we'll finish reading through Galatians 1 focusing on Galatians 1:11-24 which talks about where Paul gets his authority to speak for God (from God himself). We'll also look at his messy past, written in his own words, and see how Jesus took the bad stuff and used it for his glory.

Imperfection: Galatians 1: 1-5 NLT

The Bible is full of people- good and bad- and Jesus manages to use every single one of them for his glory in some way, shape, or fashion. Paul, the author of Galatians (and many other books of the Bible), is no exception to this rule. And he doesn't exactly have a shiny, sparkly past either. If you don't know, Paul used to be Saul- the ruthless killer of all people who were Christians. And he had support from Jewish leaders! He had "good people" (please take notice of those amazing quotes) telling him he was doing the good, noble, right thing.

Except God didn't agree and his opinion is the only one that really matters here. He paid Saul a little visit on Saul's trip to Damascus. He made the man blind, gave him a life changing message, changed his name to Paul, and taught him a vital lesson. And despite all of his yucky past, God decided that Paul was The Man that he wanted to use for the glory of his kingdom. Paul was to be the man that would write SO MANY books in the New Testament (you know, the second half of the Bible). It's commonly accepted that Paul wrote 13 of the 27 books of the New Testament! That's about as close to half as we can get!

And yet, Paul has a past just like all of the rest of us do. He was a murderer, which he acknowledges and actually points out almost right away in Galatians: "You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it. I was far ahead of my fellow Jews in my zeal for the traditions of my ancestors." (Galatians 1:13-14 NLT)

As humans, we put sin on a scale (God doesn't do that, by the way). We, in general, actually think that murder is one of the worst imaginable sins. Don't believe me? Murder is one of only a few ways that you can get the death penalty in the United States. Ask around and people inevitably say murder in some form as the worst thing people can do. Either way, I'm making a point here. God uses Paul- a murderer- to reach an innumerable number of people. He is still using Paul to this day even though Paul has been dead for thousands of years!

I don't know about anyone else, but I look at my past sometimes and I think it excludes me from use for God's kingdom and glory. How could he possibly use a divorced teen mom to make any sort of difference? Why on earth would he want to? I have done so many stupid things and yet, he still shows me great grace. He gave me one of my greatest blessings immediately following a huge mistake- he gave me my oldest son and believe me, that boy is an amazing blessing! I did not deserve the amazing baby that he was and I still sometimes question how I can be so blessed to have the level-headed, sweet, almost-man that he is now. And God didn't stop there, in the years since, I have married my best friend (14 years this past May!) and have had 3 more awesome kids. All of this despite my screwed up, imperfect past.

Again, Paul is no exception to the rule. He is one of many imperfect people being used in The Bible and being used to this day. "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard." (Romans 3:23 NLT) The only perfect person to ever walk this earth was Jesus and he was only here for 33 short years. In fact, I've read more than once that his active ministry only lasted for 3 years! So since God continues to reach his people and see change now that Jesus has saved us through the amazing gift of his life, he has to spread that message through imperfect people like each and every one of us.

I love that Paul starts his letter (The Book of Galatians) with a few very important sentences:

1. He tells us who he is: "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." (Galatians 1:1 NLT) This is like the "describe yourself" section on your Facebook page. ;)

2. He tells us who he is with: " All the brothers and sisters here join me in sending this letter to the churches of Galatia." (Galatians 1:2 NLT) Wouldn't it have been great if he could have included a selfie here? That's totally what I'm picturing.

3. He extends God's blessing and reminds his readers of the gift they have already received through no act of their own: "May God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. 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. All glory to God forever and ever! Amen." (Galatians 1:3-5 NLT).

Why do these verses matter so much? Because Paul needs the Galatians to know that he is merely a man who loves God and is sharing God's truth with them, by God's own authority! He isn't some all-important Jewish leader. He isn't really a leader at all, but a follower- an imperfect follower of Christ who wants nothing more than God's "grace and peace" (Galatians 1:3) for the Galatians! Paul sums up our entire purpose as followers of Jesus in those five short verses. Isn't that amazing?

An Introduction to a Study of the Book of Galatians

 

    I'm reading a book by Holley Gerth called "You're Already Amazing: Embracing Who You Are, Becoming All God Created You to Be." All in all, it's a good book with a lot of helpful, useful information. She is leading me to figure out who I am, what my strengths and skills are, and where God is calling me to serve. 

One exercise that I think was particularly helpful was called the "Do What You Can Plan." Haha. In it, she talks about not making these lofty, unattainable goals- something I'm totally guilty of. She says that doing this leads people to be discouraged and to quit when they don't see success all at once. Again, I'm raising my proverbial hand here. I am absolutely guilty of that! I throw myself into working out 30 or 60 minutes a day alongside perfect eating habits and lots of walking. Two weeks in, I've quit and I count myself a failure yet again as I eat all the cake I can find. 

Another example? I want to be a writer. But I don't want to just write to write. I want to write a best seller right now with almost no experience and absolutely zero platform to make that happen. I am not good at taking the big picture goal and pulling it apart into smaller pieces. And because of this, I end up quitting. I am disappointed by my own lack of ability to make it happen. I forget that God has called me to accomplish my purpose through HIS power and not my own.  "I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13 NLT)

In trying to work with my own "Do What You Can Plan," I'm going to work on this blog again. I'm going to get it going and work through a book of The Bible. Will other people read it? I have no idea. Will I get this thing right? Who knows? Will I do my best through God's unending power? Yes. 

As I was praying about what to do for this whole thing, I felt like God was guiding me toward working on a Bible Study, a devotional. To be more exact, I think he wants me reading and studying Galatians. I don't know why, but I feel this intense pull toward that particular book. So I started reading introductions about it. 

The Book of Galatians was written by Paul, but no one is sure to whom he wrote. Some scholars say that it was written to the Galatians of the North while others say it was written to those in the South. If it was written to those in the North, then there are references to it in Acts 16 and 18 that show he wrote it between 53 and 57AD. If it was written to those in the South, then there are references in Acts 13 and 14 that show he wrote it between 48 and 49AD. (Am I the only one that is reminded of Dr. Seuss's story about The Sneetches here?) Either way, Paul wrote this a long time ago and there is Biblical support that proves it was him. I find this highly interesting, that a book of the Bible, written by Paul has such a controversial element to it. To me, this shows that the Bible is so highly relevant to so many people despite it being mostly letters from believers to believers. It shows that God can give a lesson and a message to one person and use that one person to spread that lesson to others, on and on, until many lives are touched. It reminds me of a verse in 2 Corinthians 1:4: "He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us."

Isn't that a great verse? It's like it's saying God is always, always there for us whenever we need him. And when we need more physical evidence of his presence, he sends more people to surround us and lift us up and remind us of his great love for us. He sends his people to guide his people through the storms. I love it.

Getting back to the Book of Galatians, Paul wrote this because there was fighting between believers about what made you a good believer. It was Jewish Believers VS Non-Jewish Believers here (again, I'm thinking about those Sneetches!). Some believers (Jewish believers, mostly) thought that you had to practice Jewish laws and customs or you weren't "doing it right." But Paul reminds them in this letter that it has nothing to do with what we DO but with what we believe and trust that God did for us. It's all about what Jesus already did! Remember: "We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it—and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good." (Galatians 2:16 MSG)

I don't know how long I'll stay here in this book. I suppose it will be until Jesus tells me I'm done here. Until then, I'll keep sharing what I learn and hopefully it'll help someone else. Until next time.

Just Monday

One day when the angels came to report to God, Satan also showed up. God singled out Satan, saying, “And what have you been up to?” Satan answered God, “Oh, going here and there, checking things out.” -Job 2:1-2 (MSG)


This morning started like any other Monday morning.  I woke up, realized it was no longer the weekend, groaned inwardly that I had to go through the day without Shaun until evening came (and he returned home), and got up to have coffee.  

And then the little things started.  The coffee that my husband so sweetly made before he left was now cold thanks to the machine turning itself off. No big deal, I thought, I'll just zap it in the microwave for a few seconds...and then I burned my tongue because it was a few too many seconds.

Fast forward to 9am.  We started school.  I decided that this was the day we would finally add in scripture memory to our day.  So we began working on memorizing 2 Corinthians 1:4 and the kids did very well for the first day.  I was pretty happy with how things went but then the phone rang.  

Who it was doesn't matter.  What they said, doesn't matter.  What DOES matter is that I allowed Satan to use that phone call to his advantage. I allowed him to twist things and got upset. I actually sat down, emailed my husband, and cried while typing. Yep, enter the drama.

But in that email and in a private message to a dear friend of mine, I also asked for prayer.  I knew I was being ridiculous. I knew I was in the wrong.  And so I did the only thing that came naturally at the time.  I asked the people who love me to pray for my heart.

And the day got better. I'm currently eating pretzels with my sweet babies.  Pretzels, I'll add, that we made ourselves using a pretzel kit.  They are delicious.  You should be jealous of our pretzels.  On second thought, don't be...that's what got me into this post! ;)