⏱ 5 min read

“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?
This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?” – Galatians 3:1-4 NKJV

Shots fired – bang bang!! The opening verses of Galatians 3 have very strong and stern words by Paul. The Apostle of grace, called unto the Gentiles, was now ‘giving it to them’ strongly (rebuking them). But having read the first two chapters, perhaps we can now appreciate better why Paul reacted this way.

• It seemed that the believers in Galatia had been ‘hypnotized/ charmed/ enchanted‘ by the teachings of the false brethren, without recognizing the danger behind it.
• The effect of the false Gospel on them was as though a ‘juju’ spell (voodoo or witchcraft) had been applied on them; and Paul couldn’t believe they had left the truth to follow these teachings.
• I believe we should all take a cue from this. There are false teachings, with smooth-sounding arguments and revelations that can have a hypnotising effect on us.

True story: A young lovely lady moved to a new city and joined a certain church. There, she was assigned to one of the Lady Pastors (LP) who used to teach her in Bible study and follow her up, etc. 

One Sunday, on a climax of a powerful convention or camp, the young lady asked her LP, "Mummy, the convention has been very powerful, please when will there be the bath?" The LP, puzzled, asked, "a bath?" 
The young lady explained: "Yes, the bath by the Bishop. Because in my previous church, after every convention the main pastor bathes us one-on-one." 

The LP gasped with hands on her face: "Ow sister, but where in the Bible is this written?"
Young lady: "Ow, the pastor explained to us that we need that for a final cleansing..."

So all the time this lady was in church (like if she was in your church), she was waiting for the time your head pastor will bathe her. Mercy! God forbid! But this is the ‘juju-like’ effect of a false teaching. And many are hypnotized by so called “deep-teaching.”

• You see, the Gospel of Grace in Christ Jesus is just so good to be true. Believe and be saved? Believe and be made righteous? Believe and inherit all these promises?
• Yes sir, yes ma’am! This is it! Faith in Jesus + Nothing = Everything!

You see, Paul had ministered to the Galatians time and time again. They had received the Holy Spirit by believing; they had experienced God's miraculous power by believing in the Gospel Paul had preached. So they knew that they hadn’t received God’s Holy Spirit by obeying the Jewish laws.

• And Paul was saying that it is foolishness to begin your Christian life believing in Christ and in the power of the Spirit; and not continue to grow by the Spirit’s power.
• When we insist on keeping to religious laws and legalistic rules, we take a huge step back on our spiritual growth.
• We grow spiritually because of God’s work in us by His Spirit, not by human effort or by following special programs and rules.

Many people still feel insecure in their faith because faith in Christ alone seems too easy. They prefer following rules because there’s something about earning what we get, that makes us feel like we deserve it. But Grace is getting used to ‘earning’ things you don’t deserve because Christ gave them to you!

Dear friend, even though disciplines (eg Bible study and prayer) and service help us grow in God, they must not take the place of the Holy Spirit and become ends in themselves. Like, “if I do these, then God will accept me.” Nooo!!

Anyway, so Paul was asking the Galatians these hard questions, hoping to get them to focus again on Christ alone as the foundation of their faith. Because they had turned away from the Good News to the ideas of the newest teachers in town (is that relatable to you?). We’ll continue from here tomorrow but remember that Grace is getting used to ‘earning’ things you don’t deserve because Christ Jesus gave you access to them!

Prayer: Dearest Father, today I choose to believe in your fantastic promises made available to me by Your grace. I believe them Lord and I receive them in faith!

Hey, you're blessed and highly favoured and dearly loved!
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