Who Has Bewitched You?

Instead of writing a usual email to the girls tonight, I sent them this excerpt and paraphrase from Galatians 3:1-8.
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Hi girls! I hope you enjoyed this most lovely Saturday. I certainly did, out-of-doors, prepping to put in raspberry plants. We're a little late, but a friend of mine just gave me a big tote of starts from her garden, so I will be putting them in anyway.

Tonight I started the book of Galatians in my reading (I've gotten a bit off-schedule this past week or two). Here, Paul writes to the church at Galatia, which has allowed erroneous teaching to creep in and lead them astray into salvation-by-works-of-the-law teaching, which we know is false--yet it was appealing to them then, and it is still appealing to people today. Why do you think every other religion and cult requires some kind of works or rule-keeping in order to "join the elite"? Because it makes people feel as if they are doing something to earn their righteousness, and it glosses over the ugly reality that "all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God." "There is none who is righteous, no, not one." If the devil can have people feeling that they're doing a good thing and somehow contributing to their right standing before God, then he knows he's got them all the way deceived and nowhere near being genuinely saved--for true salvation comes only from recognizing that our own righteousness is filthy rags, and there is only one intermediary between us and God--the Lord Jesus Christ. See here what Paul writes to the church struggling with this serious issue:

"O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. ² Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? ³ Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? ⁴ Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? ⁵ Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— ⁶ just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? ⁷ Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. ⁸ And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” ⁹ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith."

O foolish girls! Who has bewitched you? You have seen and believed the evidence that Jesus Christ was indeed crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive salvation because of all the good things you did, or was it by believing the Word of God in faith, without any good work? Having begun your Christian life so ardently in the Holy Spirit, have you now rabbit-trailed off and tried to "supplement" it with being a "good" person? Was your initial exuberance and steadfastness all for naught--or is there yet a shred of hope for you? God supplies the Holy Spirit to you and works miracles in you--but does he do it because you adhere to the old law, or is it because you heard the gospel and believed through faith? After all, even in the Old Testament, Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." In the same way, all who believe are also counted among the redeemed, just like Abraham. The Bible, because God would justify all who believe by faith, records the early presentation of the gospel to Abraham, speaking of Jesus: "In you shall all nations of the earth be blessed." So remember, girls, all who believe by faith and live by faith are also blessed, and their salvation is secured, just like Abraham of old. 

The only place good works have in the believer's life is that they are an out-flowing expression of the love we have for our Lord and our delight in obeying his word. Good works are a fruit of saving faith, not a bargaining chip in negotiating one's salvation. Such knowledge should fill us with joy and even more delight in doing good works as ambassadors of the name of Christ, because there are no stipulations to be met, no burden to bear--only the joy of true freedom. "I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart." (Ps. 40:8)

Good night! Have a most glorious and blessed day worshiping our Lord together tomorrow! I'll see [some of] you at church tomorrow.

Love,

~Brenna

. . . Coram Deo . . .
"Living before the face of God"

A Bitter Weed

From tonight's email:

Hello, dear girls! Ninety days by the grace of God; many times I've fought to keep my eyes open as I wrote to you, but you know what--if I didn't write, I didn't read, so you all have held me accountable to be into God's precious word for this many days. Thank you, thank you. :) I love you each!

Today's reading is from Mark 9 and 10. In these chapters, there is a section that says this:

". . . And Jesus called them [the disciples] to him and said to them, 'You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.' " --Mark 10:42-45

This isn't a new idea to us, but it is oh, so hard to live. You must understand how deeply, deeply selfish we are. Our thoughts and interests naturally default to satisfying ourselves, promoting ourselves, and focusing on ourselves, to the exclusion and belittlement of other people. Selfishness isn't something that has a characteristic feature to it--it comes in as many variations as there are people. We all think of the obnoxious, greedy types as "obviously" selfish--but the truth is, the quiet, shy ones among us are equally self absorbed.

Think about this: Pride can manifest in NOT wanting the limelight as much as it shows up in those who want to steal the show all the time. If you are so self-absorbed that you can't acknowledge or honor other people's desire to care about you and recognize you, then you are just as selfish as the girl who walks into church bragging about something she wants to be praised for.

Selflessness is about OTHER people, not about our own "comfort zone." Am I too nervous and shy to greet a visitor? Bingo, selfishness--I'm too concerned with my own interests to step out of my shell and reach out to another person who may be having a much worse day than I am, might be in the middle of a crisis, could be on the verge of tears, or have just suffered some hidden tragedy and desperately needs a friendly smile and a hello. If I withhold that warmth and affection because I'm too selfish to stop putting myself first and start caring about other people, I am no better off than the worst, most blatant selfishness we can think of, and I am certainly not exhibiting the heart attitude of a humble servant of Jesus Christ.

I hope you take the time to examine your heart, and do it soon. We've all got that horrible weed trying to put down roots in us, that ugly, invasive pride of life that is the taproot of all kinds of sin. But before you despair, and more importantly, before you try to change yourself and fail and then feel miserable, let me remind you of this: you cannot change your heart. God changes hearts. It is he who purges all sin, including the sin of selfishness, from us, if we humbly repent and ask for forgiveness for the hours wasted in self-love. He will change you. You cannot win this one without him; it is futile and you'll be discouraged quickly. But with the power of the Holy Spirit conforming you into the image of Jesus, you will WIN and you will see your old self being crucified and you'll understand what it's like to glory in the joy of the Lord. It's amazing how freeing it is to stop being in love with yourself!

Don't let yourself off the hook with excuses (i.e., "I'm just an introvert, she wouldn't understand me," "I have tried to reach out and nobody appreciates it," "I'm not nearly as selfish as so-and-so," "I think I'm doing pretty well," etc). That's the easy way out, and believe me, it is comfy now, but it stings like a hornet later. I know of a girl who allowed subtle selfishness to reside in a quiet corner of her heart--it only displayed itself once in awhile, but it was there. And all of a sudden, when a time came when something (or someone) arrived in her life that was worth being totally unselfish for, she was too late, and missed it. Her true character showed itself, and she lost a precious opportunity. And it was a bitter loss--he found another girl with a gentle, healing spirit of humility who (he rightly saw) would be a far more desirable lifelong friend and wife. Oh, sweet girls, don't let that be your story! Ask the Lord to show you where selfishness resides, and then beg him to burn it out of you and make you a holy, loving servant to all.

It is a far better way.