Paul has been giving his
background to the churches of Galatia. He does so to provide proof
that the doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ he presented to them
was the true gospel. The impact of the grace of God was shown in
Paul's life first before he went out to preach it to others. Now
almost as a pleading teacher Paul emphasizes to an even greater level
his being truthful with the churches as he wrote in chapter one and
verse twenty:
Now the things which I
write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not.
In a
fashion that appeals to the senses of his readers, Paul wrote, “Now
the things which I write unto you, behold...” In other words,
take a moment to look at these words and think about them. The very
idea that Paul is writing to the church at all should be enough to
know the earnestness of his heart toward them, but he desires that
they take some time to consider his words. As a defense to the
accuracy of his teachings and the truth of the gospel of Jesus
Christ, Paul desires that the churches stop their path of belief in
false ways and remember that he gave them the true gospel in the
first place.
Paul
then elevates his comments to an even greater level by saying,
“before God, I lie not.” With God in Heaven as his
witness, Paul tells the people of Galatia that he is not lying. Why
would he lie? Paul risked life and limb to bring the gospel of Jesus
Christ to the churches in Galatia. He over and over again endured
beatings, shipwrecks, imprisonments, etc. to bring the gospel to the
Gentile world of which Galatia was a part. What would ever possess
him to tell them a lie about the gospel or his background? The answer
is nothing. Paul cared for the membership in Galatia before he even
knew who they were, and the fact that these infiltrators would come
in and mislead them motivated Paul to have them consider his words to
the greatest degree. He would not lie to them, and the evidence is in
the sacrifice that he made to bring them the gospel in the first
place.
Can we
say that we, before God, have not lied about our faith to another
person? Would we have occasion to even say so? Have we such a concern
for another person or people that we would make the appeal to them to
consider our efforts to persuade them that the gospel we presented to
them is accurate and true the first time we presented it? Perhaps
Paul's greatest message to us today is not only that he would not lie
about his background and the gospel that he presented, but also that
he went to the efforts to present the gospel to others in the first
place. His defense of his position is only relevant because he
ventured in faith enough to care that other people know the grace of
the Lord Jesus in the manner that he knew it in his own life. Do we
care that much for others? May the Lord Jesus keep us from lies and
help us to care enough to share his gospel with other people this
very day.
Next
time Paul will tells of other travels he made after his conversion,
so read ahead, and let us join together then.
Until
tomorrow...there is more...
Look for
the new devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to
Generation” in all major
bookstore
sites, www.amazon.com ; www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to
e-books, and find it
locally
at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore
No comments:
Post a Comment