Galatians 3:1-3, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”
Paul used strong words rather than gentle words with the group of Galatians in Galatians 3. Phillips translation says: “O you dear idiots of Galatia.” The Message’s paraphrase says: “You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a hex on you? Have you taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, for it’s obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives. His sacrifice on the cross was certainly set before you clearly enough.” In Galatians 3, Paul went straight to the subject in being direct in his confrontation and his defense of the doctrine of justification by faith alone, due to God’s grace, with the people in Galatia. Paul wrote with a personal tone, from his autobiography, example, allegory, satiric rebuke, and exhortation-he used it all. He had no tolerance for false doctrine and people that promote such. The Judaizes had turned the people in the church into fools in bewitching them to believe they needed something else besides faith – they needed to follow the law of Moses, and this was pure foolishness. When we take our focus off of Jesus Christ and all that He has done for us, then we too may forget how we first came to Christ, in believing faith, therefore we are empowered day by day by the Holy Spirit and are complete in Him.
So I ask you, how have you acted foolishly recently? Living godly is not just for Sundays. Can you identify the underlying reason you didn’t live out your faith as the bright light it should be before others at times? I just had a situation last week, within my work, where I am sad to admit, this happened to me. Whenever the stress of a crisis consumes me, instead of keeping my eyes focused on God, my provider, Jehovah Jireh, I fail to wait for God’s wisdom and face to shine upon me that would have delivered me. My own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure, and unfortunately, leads to making mistakes in relationships and other consequences. I had to apologize this past Monday morning for a work related incident I highly regretted from the previous work week, with the president of the company I work for. My motive was not wrong in the situation, but my tone and audio level in the heated argument we had over the phone, while I was trying to explain and justify my actions in the situation certainly was not the best. I needed to set things right in how I reacted. I knew I didn’t need to consult with anyone, as the Holy Spirit was prompting me to call and apologize for losing my temper, referencing the previous week’s incident. I felt like an idiot all weekend. When I called him early Monday morning, to apologize, I took him by surprise and he was very gracious. We ended up laughing together on the phone, as he shared with me other catastrophes that had occurred due to being short handed in Customer Service and other sales issues that had seriously frustrated him, right before our heated conversation over the phone last week that then tumbled into our current conversation. I felt highly relieved. I felt freedom from the air being cleared and the reset button being reset in our relationship. I could now remove the dunce hat from my head, from obeying the Holy Spirit’s promptings I had felt all weekend.
Receive the Word of God by faith. Hear it and recognize you also have the freedom of the power of the Holy Spirit upon your life right now by obeying God’s will in faith, and not by following a list of rules. Having the Holy Spirit is not complicated or requires any hocus pocus magical moment. God provides His own presence, His Holy Spirit, working things in your life you could never do for yourself.
I like to use, and highly recommend one of the Bible aps of reading God’s Word out loud to yourself. Let it seep into your soul and calm your thoughts. Receive it, and ask the Holy Spirit to bless your day by hearing the reading of God’s Word pouring into your life so that you can walk in the wisdom of God, keeping Jesus Christ as the clear focus throughout your day, shining on your life continually, as Proverbs 28:29b declares, “But he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.”
Listen to You Cannot Be Stopped (Lyrics) by Phil Wickham and and Chris Quilala, 4/19/2019 by Aspire Christian Music.