Substituting the Gospel

Suggested Reading:
Galatians 1:1-10

Key Verse:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all.
(Galatians 1:6, 7a NIV)

Californians have a reputation for being obsessed with fitness and nutrition. Some restaurants even feature "California Cuisine" which, influenced by the state's health-focused tradition, is typically prepared with fresh ingredients. People who desire the benefit of California Cuisine without the effort and expense of dining out, turn to vitamin or mineral supplements, trend diets and amass great volumes of reading material about being fit.

Even with all those things at their disposal, they aren't healthy. Why? It's because they are ignoring the heart of the matter. They look for shortcuts instead of doing the hard work of living a healthful lifestyle.

People do the same thing on a spiritual level. Instead of opening up God's Word, reading it, and applying it to their lives, they look for shortcuts. Devotional books line their shelves; small inspirational plaques or postcards decorate their cubicles; they do their best to be a presentable Christian, but are really nothing more than a pleasant human being.

There is no adequate substitute for God's Word. There is nothing this world has to offer that can guarantee our eternal security. Only Jesus can do that.

Reflecting Pool

What things do you substitute for God's Word?

How healthy is your spiritual life? What's missing?

What is it that keeps you from spending time reading the Bible?

The Recovery Process

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.--Galatians 5:1 (NIV)


Today marks the end of the second week since I have come home from the hospital. The underlying infection seems to be gone, but I still have a long way to go in order to heal completely. My impatient nature tells me that I should be up and around by now. My wonderful husband reminds me that my body has been through quite a lot and it will take longer than I may have expected to return to a level of good health. The folks at my doctor's office tell me the same thing. They said that I didn't get sick overnight and I certainly won't recover overnight either.

In some ways, that's true of our sinful nature as well. Since our naturally sin is present even from when we are infants, by the time we reach an age where we are aware of our grievous shortcomings, we've got a lot of bad stuff to "unlearn." We didn't become entrenched in sin overnight and we certainly aren't purged of it overnight either.

I don't think that it is possible to live a life free from sin as long as we are here on the earth. It isn't until we cross over from this world into the next that we are truly blameless and righteous. In the meantime, we must strive daily to let ourselves "recover" so to speak, from our sin. Christ has set us free from sin, but he hasn't set us free from our human nature. We will continue to struggle with temptation to sin. There are times when we will still give in to our sinful desires.

The good news is that for those of us who have freedom in Christ, we are given an extra boost of strength. Just like the antibiotics I take help ward off future infections, a life lived with Christ as the center can strengthen us against becoming burdened by overwhelming sin. Still, this is an ongoing process. I cannot take just one pill and expect to be healthy for the rest of my life. Nor can I make a one-time commitment to living for Jesus and then never consciously make an effort to do so.

So many things in life are an ongoing process. Living for Jesus and standing firmly on the hope He gives me is worth the effort. I know I can't become utterly blameless overnight. I find a great deal of peace and freedom in knowing that God doesn't expect that of me. He expects daily effort, and that's what I can give.

It's Not About Me

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. --Galatians 1:10

Today as I sat down to write, I was convicted of my egotistical thought processes. Rather than engage in an exercise that drew me into a pattern of communication with God, I had developed the attitude that the things I write about are about me. "What do I want to write about today?" I wondered. In a moment of guilt I recognized my selfishness; it's not about me. It's not about imposing my particular lifestyle on others or subjecting them to my ideological musings. The whole point of anything I do needs to be about God.

The Holy Spirit pricked my conscience and reminded me that when it comes to making an impact on others, God is the one at the helm and I am just along for the ride. He is the real and ultimate driving force in life. Unless I yield to Him, conforming my will into His, it won't be long before I become nothing more than unappealing flotsam in the sea of life.

God is believably powerful. I am miniscule, He is magnificent. He works in ways that none of us can imagine or fully comprehend. The depths of His wisdom and knowledge surpass the abilities of the greatest thinkers of our time. His capabilities reach beyond the limits of human innovation. His deeds are innumerable. His mercy is unfathomable. His grace is irresistible.

Anything good that I am or have is because of God's rich and abundant blessings in my life. Because of His unending goodness, I lack nothing. Who am I to brazenly put myself in any position other than one of humility and gratitude? Who am I to assume that I have control over my life? Without Christ I am nothing. Without God's love, I cease to exist.

Every one of my actions and thoughts should be motivated by this realization. It is far more important to serve Christ above man--and that includes any attempt to please myself.

Peace and Patience

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness--Galatians 5:22

Galatians 5: 16-26 describe two types of people--those who live by the spirit and those who gratify the desires of the sinful nature. I have often thought of this list of the manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit as qualities that we as Christians must demonstrate to one another. While I still believe that this is true, I also think that this fruit is part of what we cultivate on a personal level when we commune with God. In light of Paul's description of two types of people, I think it is important to consider the fruit of the Spirit not only as outward expressions of our Christianity, but rather, our inner character and our one-on-one relationship with God.

As I read verse 22, I can think of another verse that mentions joy, patience and faithfulness. Romans 12:12 says to be "joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." It is in times of affliction that our relationship with God is most often tested. If we are living in the Spirit as it says in Galatians, then we are able to stand up to the challenges of the world. Our strong love for God and our faithfulness to Him gives us the fortitude we need to find peace and patience no matter what the circumstances.

I find it interesting that peace and patience are listed side by side in this verse. Perhaps this is because you can't have one without the other. Impatience can quickly lead to anxiety and worry, and that is certainly not a peaceful feeling. I remember a song I learned as a child about being patient that describes the importance of peace and patience:

Have patience, have patience
don't be in such a hurry
when you get impatient
you only start to worry.
Remember, remember that God is patient too and
think of all the times when others stopped to wait for you.

Rather than think of when others have been patient with me, I think of the times that God has been patient with me. There have been times when I didn't like the way that God was working things out in my life. Rather than living in the Spirit, I tried to make things happen of my own accord. Doing so led to exactly the types of things Paul describes about the people who live by their sinful natures. Without patience I felt jealous (Gal. 5:20) of people who seemed to be getting special blessings from God. I also gave in to selfish ambitions and basically did what I wanted to instead of what I knew God wanted me to do (Gal. 5:20). In addition to my feelings of jealousy, I felt envious of those who didn't struggle with the same things I did. (Gal. 5:22) Needless to say, none of those actions were particularly peaceful.

I have seen a bumper sticker that very concisely sums up the second half of Galatians 5. It reads "No God, No peace; Know God, Know Peace". How very true that is. It is my continual goal to know God and to know peace. The best way I know how to do that is to spend time with him on a regular basis, allowing him to tend to the garden of my heart where the fruit of the Spirit can grow.

Cross Connection Control and Backflow Prevention

You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? --Galatians 5:7

Over the summer I learned a little bit about public drinking water systems and different methods and equipment necessary to prevent contamination problems. Maybe it's because my grandpa was a plumber, or maybe it's because I believe that spiritual analogy can be derived from even the most unlikely circumstances, but today's Bible verse got me thinking about the similarities between our resposibilities as Christians, and the importance of maintaining a clean supply of drinking water.

Cross connection control and backflow prevention refers to designing a plumbing system carrying water in a particular direction such that the water quality will not be compromised even when the pipes are connected to another system carrying water for a different purpose. Certain valves in the system act like a traffic stoplight at an intersection. Flow is allowed to continue in one direction, while flow from another direction is prevented. Technicians for drinking water systems must undergo a great deal of training and be certified so that they can properly manage and maintain the cross connection controls and successfully prevent backflow.

Within the Christian community, some people are analogous to the certified backflow prevention technicians. God's word is part of the living water that flows through the church. His word is truth and is to be obeyed. Pastors, as well as other church leaders, are responsible for overseeing the continued flow of God's word to his people. Pastors, in particular those who attend seminary, are certified to analyze the quality of the information that flows to individuals. They are responsible for ensuring that anything taught to their congregations is doctrinally sound and adheres to the belief that the word of God is true.

When Christians are out in the regular world, we must take God's truth with us so that we can be obedient to God's commandments. Daily we run the risk of contaminating our living water unless we are properly outfitted with cross connection controls and backflow prevention valves. As we find ourselves in situations where the direction of the flow from outside influence runs in a direction contrary to the flow of a Christian lifestyle, we need to be able to close the valves! This is necessary to reduce our susceptibility to the wrong type of influence. For example, if you are constantly around people who believe that academic dishonesty is no big deal, then you may eventually find yourself allowing that same thought to creep into your spiritual water supply. God's word clearly says that it is wrong to "bear false witness". A contaminated sense of right and wrong my dull your conscience. That makes it difficult for you to believe that cheating is a form of lying, and as a result, you act in a manner that is disobedient.

I think the best way to establish cross connection controls in our spiritual lives is to look at the cross. The living water that flows from Christ is the only pure influence we have. Only Christ was blameless and perfect. The better we get at living a life that is Christ-led, the more we develop a Christ-like mindset, and the more time we spend in the company of other Christians, the better we will become at reducing the flow from harmful, wordly influence that could contaminate God's truth. It is important that we continue to run a good race and prevent any attempts to cut in and keep us from living a life obedient to God.

Enslaved No More

But now that you know God-or rather are known by God-how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? --Galatians 4:9

This verse rings especially true for me lately. I am not someone who deals very well with change, and over the last few months I have been nearly overwhelmed by change. I have recently been battling feelings of frustration and low self-esteem as the result of feeling "out of my element". I confessed to my husband the other night that those feelings had presented themselves to me numerous times throughout the last decade of my life. My husband wisely commented that it is not unlikely that those feelings have their roots in an less than thriving relationship with God.

He was right. I have noticed that in the times when my spiritual life starts to wane, the rest of my life also takes an unpleasant dip. When our hearts are not as full of God's love and joy as they should be, we attempt to fill our lives in other ways. We all long for satisfaction, a sense of belonging, and a sense of feeling complete or fulfilled. Unfortunately, there is nothing on earth that can fill the desires of our hearts and souls like God can.

Time spent with God in a growing, vibrant relationship with him is the only way to keep the things of the world at bay. If we occupy ourselves with things that aren't conducive to a godly lifestyle, we run the risk of becoming entangled in sinfulness and emptiness. The more we chase after those things, the more we stand to lose. The more we lose, the more lonely we feel. Before long it becomes a vicious cycle as we try to find fulfillment but only end up becoming enslaved by ungodly desires.

I am thankful that my husband suggested that I step up the pace in my walk with God. I am glad that although my walk has not been as strong as it could be, I have not stopped walking. Even more importantly, I am glad that I have not reversed direction and become enslaved by weak and miserable principles. I know God, and I belong fully to him. He deserves my full attention and a great deal more of my time. My life will always be full of changes that may put me "out of my element" but God is constant. When changes come that take away things that were familiar or comfortable, God's presence will fill me completely in their absence.

Team Effort

Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? --Galatians 3:3

Over the last few days I have substituted my usual Frasier reruns with a good dose of the Olympic Games. I am amazed at the amount of effort, strength and personal drive that is reflected on each of the athlete’s faces. It is inspiring to see so much talent representing our country.

Team events like gymnastics particularly intrigue me. As the individuals compete, they are mindful that their personal scores are calculated as part of the team’s average. In years past, the lowest individual scores were dropped. That is not the case in Greece this year. Every competitor is scrutinized as they perform, and every tenth of a point counts. Judges are watching, and the world is watching.

Think about how this compares to living a Christian life in the ever-watchful eye of the secular world. Few will argue that we can simply do as we please and not worry about how that reflects on our fellow Christians. Whether we like it or not, the world is watching and making judgments about our “performance”.

I have to admit that I myself have been prone to judge the church as a whole based on a few bad experiences with individuals. I can easily see why people outside the church fail to foster amicable feelings about Christians. It is not difficult to see why some people criticize Christians—calling them hypocrites—and prefer to stay away from the church altogether.

The sad fact in many cases is that the world, on a certain level, is right. I am not saying that there are no decent people in the church. There are—many of them! However, try as we may, we cannot make up for our teammates whose performances are considerably lackluster. No human can ever accurately reflect or duplicate the perfection in character exhibited by Jesus.

If the world decides to judge the church by scrutinizing the performance of Christians, than they have missed the point. Christians are a poor example of what the church really is. The greatest example of perfection—in fact the only example—is seen in the church’s head figure, Jesus. Where we have failed, He has triumphed. Where we have been disqualified, He has finished the competition. How blessed we are to share in His victory even though we are each the weakest member of the team.