Galatians 2-3
Rebecca Lightfoot
The world and Satan like to condemn those who seek to follow Christ every time we mess up/every time we sin.In fact,this may be one of the most effective ways the enemies of God will use to DISCOURAGE us.To discourage our faith and/or our perceived position in Christ can be the beginning of an ultimate loss of our confidence/faith in the atoning work of what Christ has done & is doing for our lives...,exactly what the enemy would like to have happen in our lives!If not addressed with The Truth of The Gospel,this waning of confidence/faith can lead to greater heartache & pain n our life,by our lives turning to paths far from those that would be honoring Christ/away from the paths God has conceived for us before we were born(Jeremiah29:11,”For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”).Galatians2:17-3:5,gives us what we need to combat the above tactics that the enemy will so cunningly seek to use on us every time we have a “slip” in our walk w Christ...,& every time we return to some kind of behavior that we thought we had moved past forever.This doesn’t mean that it is ok to have these slips,nor can we continue to return to these past behaviors continually.As we grow n our faith walk w Christ,we should be distancing ourselves further & further from these things...,so when we r tempted to return to them,they r further & further from what our heart/mind/life are truly pleased with.In fact,the more we walk faithfully w Christ,these things actually “taste bad”,”feel bad”,”look bad”,and are simply not as attractive as they once were....we are attracted to things that are much more significant->things that we were created to have from the Creator of life/our Father in Heaven as He promises in the verse from Jeremiah above.Back to confronting the tactics of our enemy->Galatians2:17-3:6 says that,to try as hard as we may to live by justifying ourselves by the way we live...we will fail...and that our victory is only found as our Faith&Trust in The True Gospel grows in our life!>(“If while we seek to be justified in Christ,it becomes evident that we ourselves are still sinners,does that mean that Christ promotes sin?Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed,I prove that I am a lawbreaker....Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law,or by believing what you heard?Are you so foolish?After beginning with the Spirit,are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?....Does God give you His Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law,or because you believe what you heard.Consider Abraham:”He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness”)As our lives are continually changed by The True Gospel(what we have heard through the testimonies the Bible;& through the lives of the faithful in all history past&present),our personal faith&confidence in The Lord will grow and continue to process our lives to be more and more like Christ.This personal faith&confidence is the target of the personal DISCOURAGEMENT Satan seeks to heap on us every time we slip.We must confront this with The True Gospel,while acknowledging that our lives are a “work in process” by the hands of our Creator God/our Father in Heaven(Isaiah64:8,”Yet you, Lord, are our Father.We are the clay, you are the potter;we are all the work of your hand”)....being in the process that only The True Gospel can promise for us.When we remember these Truths of The True Gospel,the DISCOURAGEMENT should not last long enough to do damage to our heart/mind/life,but instead humble us even more because of the awesome Mercy/Grace/Love given to us by The True Gospel...and bring us to an ever increasing faith and confidence in The Lord...that continues to allow His Hands to shape our lives as we grow and mature.Dear Lord God-I praise You for the patience and persistence of Your Love,& Your True Gospel...help me to remember Your Promises, and Your Sovereignty in all things for my life...so I will not become discouraged for long when I slip...and please help me to move past these things in Your Process for my life...as Your Loving Hands continue to mold me.