Passage: Galatians 4:8-20
Point
1. They have come to know God and to be known by God. Why did they return to their gods that are not God?
2. It was because of a bodily ailment that Paul preached the gospel to them.
3. Paul is wondering why they have become bitter with him.
Personalize
We often venture through life holding on to old ways of thinking and ineffective ways of living. We grasp onto what we have known without ever thinking what we are doing is holding us captive. God has entered our world and has made Himself and the Gospel known to us through Jesus Christ. Once we come to Christ we can no longer claim ignorance because we “know God and are known by God”. In order to move from captivity to freedom we must live life as one who knows God and not as one who does not.
Paul points out that they should not return back to their old ways because they “know God or rather they are known by God”. God initiated the contact and they responded with faith. So why do they go back to their old ways when they did not know God and lived by natural laws and societal expectations? The reason is that the Galatians were looking for something “to do” rather than rest in their relationship with Christ. ”You observe days and months and seasons and years!” (v.10). It was in these special days and events they sought fulfillment and righteousness from the ritual. While in Okinawa, I have observed this as well. People are looking to appease their ancestral gods through special days and events. This past week, following the new year, there were lines of people trying to reach the Buddist temples in order to receive good fortune or a blessing from their ancestorial gods.
The effort to obtain a right relationship with God through our works is prevalent in the religius and the secular. ”Therefore there is no difference at all between a Papist, a Jew, a Turk, and an heretic. Indeed there is a difference of the persons, the places, religions, works and worshippings; notwithstanding there is all one and the same reason, the same heart, opinion and cogitation in them all. For the Turk thinketh the self-same thing that the Charterhouse Monk doth: namely, if I do this or that [work], God will be merciful unto me; if I do it not, he will be angry” (Luther, Commentary on Galatians). When we live by works rather than by faith we are no different than the non-believer because we are seeking a right relationship or direction in life by what we do rather than by our faith in Jesus Christ alone.
Prayer
Lord may we find rest in You alone. To be known by You is amazing because we are unworthy of your love but we have been made worthy through Your son Jesus. Lord reveal to us how to live by faith and not by our works. We desire to walk as individuals who know You and are known by You.
