Hello, Wednesday! Say a little prayer for me to day if you think of it. Today is my first day back in the classroom! I am so looking forward to teaching lit and writing to middle schoolers! I love it when God brings something full circle in my life and, believe me, this is a circle. But now, on to the Word part of our Wednesday. Be ready next week when we hit one of my favorite books, Ephesians. As always, drop a comment below if you wish and share what Galatians spoke into your life.
Galatians 2:20 (NIV)–I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
I’m about to tell you what… This verse is so chock full of goodness, I’m not even sure one blog post can cover it. Starting at the end, Christ died for me! As long as I live, I will never get over how amazing that is. He gave up heaven to come to earth, be human (that means He had sore feet, had to work for a living, had his friends turn their backs on Him… You name anything we go through and He did!) then capped it all off by suffering death and the rejection of God Himself. That last part gets me. It wasn’t just death. It was total rejection by God. I was thinking earlier today, I can deal with the loss of anything but God. Can you imagine trying to survive with no God? It wouldn’t be possible. But back to the subject, He did it all for ME and for YOU. Ah! I can’t even grasp it!
As for the first part of the verse, I was reminded I can’t live this life on my own. Boy, I have a pretty good success rate when it comes to failure. I fail God daily. I fail others daily. Sometimes, I get so focused on the mistakes that I forget the grace. God reminded me today. Yes, I’m going to mess up, because that’s the human part of me. But Christ lives in me too. Stop a second. Christ lives in you. Doesn’t that suddenly make the mistakes seem forgivable? Our meager strength seem mightier? The impossible seem possible? I got caught up in that Casting Crowns line today, “I’m not holding onto You, but You’re holding onto me.” Some of us need to hear that we might be falling down weak, but Jesus is holding onto us, and he won’t let go. Does that grip anybody else right in the heart?
-JB
So, somehow I missed a day in my world and am late on this one! Anyway, I chose Galatians 1:10 – Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
This is a really tough question for me because it’s one I really don’t like the answer to at all! I realize that far too often I am trying to please men, and to gain the approval of men. I find that I have even gained approval of men by using God, in a sense. When I really search my heart, I realize that many times I have done things that will absolutely enhance my relationship with God, and will make me a better person, but those weren’t necessarily the initial motivations, although it’s way easier to justify if they were. I’d love to believe that every motive and place in my heart is pure and always looking to glorify God and meet his approval, but I am as human as they come! How many times have some of you taken on a role or did something at church or bible study so that you’d look better to that group (of men)? Yes, ultimately you are serving God and all that good stuff, but where was your real heart from the start? I know I’m not alone on this one, but it doesn’t make me feel any better about it. I do appreciate that even when my motivations haven’t always been right from the start, God has changed my heart when needed and filled it up with himself to get me back on track.