Who's in Charge Here?

Who's in Charge Here?   

We hear a lot about the sovereignty of God and the doctrinal debates and heated discussions that follow. So I was a little reluctant to share on this subject.

So I'll give a little introduction to why this subject has come to mean so much to me.

My story: I was brought up believing we "control" our destiny and sometime the devil does, and sometimes God does. But God only controls our destiny when we don't let the devil or self in. So basically, God is in control in a very limited way. In 1988 it all came to a head when my world went into a whirlwind of stuff. I was convinced the devil and I had so messed up things that God couldn't fix the mess. Then in 1992 I heard a message of a cassette tape by a minister, that started to open my eyes just a little bit about our sovereign God. Then, I really started to see and understand our God is sovereign in 2002/2003 AND am still growing in that understanding. But atleast I can now answer the question: Who's in Charge Here with my Almighty and Sovereign God.

I am not a know it all, but I do hope that some of what follows from the scriptures will minister hope, peace, and a belief in a God who is bigger and watch's over ALL your circumstances.

For the sake of devaluing my thoughts and exalting the Bible I have put in smaller font my "commentary". So that if you are having a hard time with "me" then atleast read the scriptures put in red for ease in reading. I'm always here for God's body and to Glorify God in all I say and do!

Today, we will lightly cover that exact subject, as it is quite vast.

The Sovereignty of God is the biblical teaching that all things are under God's rule 

and control, and that nothing happens without His direction or permission.

God’s Tapestry

God weaves the strands of life

Into a perfect tapestry. 

And though His plans for us 

May sometimes seem a mystery. 

If we but trust Him, 

Even when we do not understand, 

Our lives can be great works of art, 

designed by His own hand…

by Emily Matthews 

  

Sometimes we are exhorted to try to make our own way through life. This is an 

unbiblical idea. It is the Lord who orders our steps. He is weaving together a beautiful 

tapestry in our lives and in this world. This tapestry is to be a display of His glory. 
If I try to weave it myself, it would turn out to be rather ugly. God is the Weaver.

How far does God's authority really extend? Is He sovereign over everything or just some things? Is He intimately involved in the details or just the general plan? And if He's not in charge, then who is?

Three Options: Yes, there are actually only three options to choose from:

1. Chance - There is no God. Everything that happens is unplanned and accidental.

2. Dualism - Authority is shared between two (or more) gods who are at cross

purposes with one another.

3. God controls and has authority over everything.

Let's look at this not from an emotional standpoint, but based on what the Bible says:

1. The LORD is Intimately Involved with All Things:

He determines the roll of the dice -- 

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD. - Proverbs 16:33

Not one sparrow alights upon the ground apart from God's direction -- 

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. - Matthew 10:29

God directs through the decisions of government leaders -- The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; He directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases. - Proverbs 21:1

God causes affluence and creates calamity -- 

I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know there is none besides me. 
I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, 
I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things. - Isaiah 45:5-7 

The LORD has a plan and works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will Ephesians 1:11

Therefore, no plan of man can succeed against the LORD -- 

There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD. - Proverbs 21:30

2. The LORD Directs the Decisions and Destinies of Men and Women\

A man's mind may plan his way, but the LORD is the one who determines his steps - Proverbs 16:9

No one from the east or the west or from the desert can exalt a man. But it is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another.  -- Psalm 75:6-7 

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.  -- Psalm 139:15-16 

3. The Scriptures Are Not Afraid to Confirm that Even the Actions of the Wicked are Ultimately Under God's Control:

The LORD works out everything for His own ends - even the wicked for a day of disaster (Proverbs 16:4).

The evil actions of Joseph's brothers were ordained by God to accomplish His purposes.

Joseph said to his brothers, "But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance."  -- Genesis 45:7

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. - Genesis 50:20 

The decisions of Herod, Pilate, Caiaphas, and others to destroy Jesus were part of the plan of God 

Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. -- Acts 4:27-28 

Even Satan works under God's control and unwittingly accomplishes God's purposes. 

Compare 1 Chronicles 21:1 with 2 Samuel 24:1. See also Job 1:20-22; 2:10; 42:11.

Summary:

The biblical view of man -- indeed, of the whole universe -- pictures a God who has made men in His image and the world to reflect His goodness. It reveals Him busily involved in all the processes of nature and society, upholding the universe by the word of His power, working all things according to the counsel of His will and for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. He is shown to be the God who "doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise and holy providence."

While God certainly does use secondary causes -- like genes, the environment, and all the other "impersonal" forces -- at bottom, He is at work in them all, accomplishing His good purposes to glorify Himself by the manifestation of His mercy and His justice. The whole universe is personally attended to by the living God; and men.

What a far cry from the picture of an impersonal, uncaring, even savage universe that is painted for us by the best minds of evolutionary science. This is not an impersonal cosmos, and the people with whom we share it are not simply the products of chance, time, and impersonal material particles and processes. And we must give more acknowledgment and thanksgiving to God who visits His creation for the purposes of His glory than this sad generation has been willing to give.

THE BIG QUESTION: 

What Difference Does It Make to Believe That the LORD is Sovereign and thus in Control of All Things?

• It challenges our small-minded images and concepts of God. -- We live in an age when the world and many churches are willing to acknowledge the existence of a god. But the god that is acknowledged by the world and preached about in many churches is not the powerful, sovereign, all-ordaining LORD of the Scriptures. This modern version of deity is an emasculated caricature of the God of the Bible. He is a buddy who we can use in times of trouble, but don't need to bother about when things are going good. Or He is the "good" god who fights against Satan, sickness, and weak finances when we give Him permission (-- this is just another form of dualism).
  
  
  The true God that we see in the Bible is God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:15-16).
  
  
  We need to get our view of God up to Biblical standards, no matter how difficult it may be to reconcile man's freewill, the problem of evil, and God's sovereignty. 
• These questions have Biblical answers, but we will only understand them when we are willing to believe what the Bible says about the LORD. The Bible affirms a completely sovereign God who is involved at some level in every action, every event, and every decision ever made throughout all eternity.

• We realize our absolute dependence upon God for any blessing, any mercy, or any goodness. My times are in your hand (Psalm 31:15). We are completely dependent upon God for anything good that happens to us. People who have a proper view of God have a deeper trust in God, are more humble, and are less fretful during times of trouble.

• We find a greater security in the Christian life when we accept that less depends on us and more depends on God. The God we read about in the Bible is not only willing, but able to keep us -- Jude 1:24 To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy.
• John 6:39 Jesus said, "And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that He has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I WILL raise him up at the last day."
  
  
  Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
  
  
  Nothing good, bad, or evil will happen to me without first passing through my Heavenly Father's hands, so I know that all things do work together for the good for me (Romans 8:28).

God's plan

 for your life

far exceed

the circumstances 


of the day.

In closing, my prayer is NOT that this devotion/teaching will cause any conflict in the hearts of saved man, but that we will truly see who's in charge and accept His working in our lives, EVEN when it doesn't all make sense now, as someday it will (most likely when we see Him face to face in Eternity).

To contact me
Email: Jim (biblefood@gmail.com)

Website: http://www.biblefood.org/

Devotion: "Liar? Lunatic? or LORD?"

Devotion: "Liar, Lunatic, or LORD" by Josh McDowell


Jesus' distinct claims of being God eliminate the popular ploy of skeptics who regard Him as just a good moral man or a prophet who said a lot of profound things.


So often that conclusion is passed off as the only one acceptable to scholars or as the obvious result of the intellectual process.


The trouble is, many people nod their heads in agreement and never see the fallacy of such reasoning.

Analyzing Jesus' Claim To Be God

C. S. Lewis, who was a professor at Cambridge University and once an agnostic, understood this issue clearly.

He writes: "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -‑ on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg ‑- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the son of God: or else a madman or something worse."

Then Lewis adds: "You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."

In the words of Kenneth Scott Latourette, historian of Christianity at Yale University: "It is not His teachings which make Jesus so remarkable, although these would be enough to give Him distinction. It is a combination of the teachings with the man Himself. The two cannot be separated."

Jesus claimed to be God. He didn't leave any other option open. His claim must be either true or false, so it is something that should be given serious consideration.

Jesus' question to His disciples, "But who do you say that I am?" (Matthew 16:15) has several alternatives.

First, suppose that His claim to be God was false. If it was false, then we have only two alternatives. He either knew it was false or He didn't know it was false.

We will consider each one separately and examine the evidence.

Was He a Liar?

If, when Jesus made His claims, He knew that He was not God, then He was lying and deliberately deceiving His followers.

But if He was a liar, then He was also a hypocrite because He told others to be honest, whatever the cost, while He himself taught and lived a colossal lie.

More than that, He was a demon, because He told others to trust Him for their eternal destiny. If He couldn't back up His claims and knew it, then He was unspeakably evil. 

Last, He would also be a fool because it was His claims to being God that led to His crucifixion.

Many will say that Jesus was a good moral teacher. Let's be realistic. How could He be a great moral teacher and knowingly mislead people at the most important point of His teaching ‑- His own identity? You would have to conclude logically that He was a deliberate liar.

This view of Jesus, however doesn't coincide with what we know either of Him or the results of His life and teachings.

Wherever Jesus has been proclaimed, lives have been changed for the good, nations have changed for the better, thieves are made honest, alcoholics are cured, hateful individuals become channels of love, unjust persons become just.

William Lecky, one of Great Britain's most noted historians and a dedicated opponent of organized Christianity, writes: "It was reserved for Christianity to present to the world an ideal character which through all the changes of 18 centuries has inspired the hearts of men with an impassioned love; has shown itself capable of acting on all ages, nations, temperaments and conditions; has been not only the highest pattern of virtue, but the strongest incentive to its practice.... The simple record of these 3 short years of active life has done more to regenerate and soften mankind than all the disquisitions of philosophers and all the exhortations of moralists."

Historian Philip Schaff says: "How, in the name of logic, common sense, and experience, could an imposter -‑ that is a deceitful, selfish, depraved man -‑ have invented, and consistently maintained from the beginning to end, the purest and noblest character known in history with the most perfect air of truth and reality? How could He have conceived and successfully carried out a plan of unparalleled beneficence, moral magnitude, and sublimity, and sacrificed His own life for it, in the face of the strongest prejudices of His people and age?"

If Jesus wanted to get people to follow Him and believe in Him as God, why did He go to the Jewish nation? Why go as a Nazarene carpenter to a country so small in size and population and so thoroughly adhering to the undivided unity of God? Why didn't He go to Egypt or, even more, to Greece, where they believed in various gods and various manifestations of them?

Someone who lived as Jesus lived, taught as Jesus taught, and died as Jesus died could not have been a liar.

Was He a Lunatic?

If it is inconceivable for Jesus to be a liar, then couldn't He actually have thought Himself to be God, but been mistaken? After all, it's possible to be both sincere and wrong.

But we must remember that for someone to think himself God, especially in a fiercely monotheistic culture, and then to tell others that their eternal destiny depended on believing in him, is no light flight of fantasy but the thoughts of a lunatic in the fullest sense.

Was Jesus Christ such a person?

Someone who believes he is God sounds like someone today believing himself Napoleon. He would be deluded and self‑deceived, and probably he would be locked up so he wouldn't hurt himself or anyone else.

Yet in Jesus we don't observe the abnormalities and imbalance that usually go along with being deranged. His poise and composure would certainly be amazing if He were insane.

Noyes and Kolb, in a medical text, describe the schizophrenic as a person who is more autistic than realistic. The schizophrenic desires to escape from the world of reality. Let's face it; claiming to be God would certainly be a retreat from reality.

In light of the other things we know about Jesus, it's hard to imagine that He was mentally disturbed. Here is a man who spoke some of the most profound sayings ever recorded. His instructions have liberated many individuals from mental bondage.

Clark H. Pinnock asks: "Was He deluded about His greatness, a paranoid, an unintentional deceiver, a schizophrenic? Again, the skill and depth of His teachings support the case only for His total mental soundness. If only we were as sane as He!"

A student at a California university told me that his psychology professor had said in class that "all he has to do is pick up the Bible and read portions of Christ's teaching to many of his patients. That's all the counseling they need."

Psychiatrist J. T. Fisher states: "If you were to take the sum total of all authoritative articles ever written by the most qualified of psychologists and psychiatrists on the subject of mental hygiene ‑- if you were to combine them and refine them, and cleave out the excess verbiage -‑ if you were to take the whole of the meat and none of the parsley, and if you were to have these unadulterated bits of pure scientific knowledge concisely expressed by the most capable of living poets, you would have an awkward and incomplete summation of the Sermon on the Mount. And it would suffer immeasurably through comparison. For nearly 2,000 years the Christian world has been holding in its hands the complete answer to its restless and fruitless yearnings. Here ... rests the blueprint for successful human life with optimism, mental health, and contentment."

C. S. Lewis writes: "The historical difficulty of giving for the life, sayings and influence of Jesus any explanation that is not harder than the Christian explanation is very great. The discrepancy between the depth and sanity...of His moral teaching and the rampant megalomania which must lie behind His theological teaching unless He is indeed God has never been satisfactorily explained. Hence the non‑Christian hypotheses succeed one another with the restless fertility of bewilderment."

Philip Schaff reasons: "Is such an intellect ‑- clear as the sky, bracing as the mountain air, sharp and penetrating as a sword, thoroughly healthy and vigorous, always ready and always self‑possessed -‑ liable to a radical and most serious delusion concerning His own character and mission? Preposterous imagination!"

Was He Lord?

I cannot personally conclude that Jesus was a liar or a lunatic. The only other alternative is that He was the Christ, the Son of God, as He claimed.

When I discuss this with most Jewish people, it's interesting how they respond. They usually tell me that Jesus was a moral, upright, religious leader, a good man, or some kind of prophet. I then share with them the claims Jesus made about Himself and then this material on the trilemma (liar, lunatic, or Lord).

When I ask if they believe Jesus was a liar, there is a sharp "No!"

Then I ask, "Do you believe He was a lunatic?" The reply is, "Of course not."

"Do you believe He is God?"

Before I can get a breath in edgewise, there is a resounding, "Absolutely not."

Yet one has only so many choices.

The issue with these 3 alternatives is not which is possible, for it is obvious that all 3 are possible. Rather, the question is, "Which is more probable?"

Who you decide Jesus Christ is must not be an idle intellectual exercise. You cannot put Him on the shelf as a great moral teacher. That is not a valid option.

He is either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord and God. You must make a choice.

"But," as the apostle John wrote, "these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and" ‑- more important ‑- "that believing you might have life in His name" (John 20:31).

The evidence is clearly in favor of Jesus as Lord. Some people, however, reject this clear evidence because of moral implications involved. They don't want to face up to the responsibility or implications of calling Him Lord.

Note: This devotion is not original with me, I found it at: http://www.ccci.org

I look forward to bringing and writing many devotions in the future.

In His Service,
Jim
Email: biblefood@gmail.com
Website: www.biblefood.org

Devotion: "Why Did This Happen, God?"

"Why Did This Happen, God?"

" For now I see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known". - I Cor. 13:12


I see through a glass, darkly/dimly (based on I Cor. 13:12)



We often find there are things in life that happen which we JUST don't understand. I have had my share of circumstances where I could question God on things that have happened in my life or around me. I could say, "Why did this happen, God?" With all my studying of the scriptures and what I believe the Bible teaches, I still have times where things that have happened just don't make sense; deaths, illnesses, accidents, relationship breakdowns, and the list goes on. We believe we know why some of these happen, but there are other areas where we just draw a blank. No matter how diligently we study the Word and seek God for answers, we often come up blank or assume the WORST, that God has failed us.

A close friend and I were discussing this issue. We began discussing "Christians" who have fallen away from the LORD; and in many cases, there is some ANGER and BITTERNESS with God over things that have happened in their lives or around them.

Without getting into ALL the theological debates of our often futile attempts to explain these things, I would like to personally share how I have dealt with these "Why, God?" areas in my own life. I feel this will HELP and ENCOURAGE some of you, and prayerfully, BRING SOME OF YOU OUT OF A BACKSLIDDEN STATE.

How I have dealt with this is so basic and practical, yet it has helped me stay in love with my LORD; therefore, I ask you to NOT take my answer too lightly. In spite of my knowledge of the Word of God and thinking I know what the Bible answer is for a given situation, I have learned to acknowledge that God is all-knowing and JIM is not. I see through a spiritual glass or mirror (Thank God, I see!), but ever so darkly, dimly. Now, in ALL my knowing, I ONLY know in PART a fragment of the Truth. But, Praise God, the day is coming when I will get to the other side and I will see clearly, knowing even as I am known! (I Cor. 13:12)

I exhort you today, do not get angry or bitter with God concerning things that happen in your life or around you; even if, because of your theological beliefs, you're convinced that you are SO RIGHT and God is so wrong. Let me submit for your consideration that your THEOLOGY IS WRONG if it justifies your anger or bitterness with God. It may not be until you get to the other side that you will fully understand how or why something has happened. But when that day comes, whether in this lifetime or on the other side, you will surely see that God was ALWAYS just. All things will then make sense and you will see that all anger and bitterness toward God was unfounded. You will then wonder how you could have been so foolish or blind as to think that being angry or bitter with God was appropriate.

So, if you have any area in your life (and I have many) that just makes no sense, a "Why, God?" area, please leave it alone. God in His time will give you the answer even if it is on the other side after your life on earth ends.

Do not let the incomprehensible get in the way of your love walk with Jesus!

If this lesson spoke to you, you may want to pray this prayer:

Heavenly Father,

There are things that have happened in my life, around me, and in this world that have made me angry or bitter with You. I ask You to forgive me for the anger or bitterness. I ask You to help me trust You enough to leave the incomprehensible happenings alone and for You to answer in Your time, even if that time is after I leave this world to be with you in Eternity. Let me ever remember that I see everything dimly and that I know only in part. Thank You, that someday all of this will make sense and I will see that You, never for a moment, stopped being a loving God.

In Jesus' Name, Amen!

My email: Jim (biblefood@gmail.com)
Website: http://www.biblefood.org/

"Torn – Trusting God When Life Leaves You in Pieces" (BOOK REVIEW)





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Today's Review 

I was given this book to read and review.  Periodically I will do a book review for Multnomah Books.

Here's my review:

I admittedly went into reading this book cautiously because I wasn't familiar with the author and wasn't thrilled with some people who had endorsed this book.  However, the subject matter got my attention, "Torn – Trusting God When Life Leaves You in Pieces."  This is something I could relate to.  As I read this book, you see that the subject matter is primarily the sovereignty of God in suffering.  While the book starts with the "Why God?" question, it does a good job of getting us off the "why" question and onto "who" - who will you trust during trials and suffering?  Basically, he really never answered the "why question," but the way in which he didn't answer it is, in my opinion, the right way. I agree with him not getting caught up in the "why, why, why?" question and moving on to who are you going to trust through this trial?  I have seen many try to answer the "why question" and were unable to do so to my satisfaction or anyone else's.  It's the WRONG question to be asking!  The author then goes on to, "who are you going to trust" and "how are you going to trust him?" 

This book is pretty basic on the subject of suffering, but it does a good job overall.  I think this book would benefit many new Christians who think that now that they are following Jesus, they will never have another problem again – Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!  I am so appreciative of this subject being properly dealt with where anyone reading it can understand it. 

While this book uses a lot of scriptures (well over 100), most of them are not directly shown in the text or in a footnote.  So, I found myself turning to the notes in the back of the book constantly.  I much more prefer the text being right there in the chapter or at least footnoted on the bottom of the page.  Also, some of the passages need a little closer examination from the context of what was written. He also seems to try to sound "cool" by referencing secular material, movies, etc.  Being cool in my eyes or more importantly the Lord's this is not necessary, but it may go along with the fact that the author is pastor of a mega-church in Las Vegas - just my observation.

My overall rating for this book is so-so.  For the new believer or someone taught (erroneously) that we are not to suffer as Christians, I would give this 4-5 stars.  For anyone who has been in the Bible (rightly dividing the word of God) for any length of time, this book has little to offer. 

I have no doubt this book will minister to some, and to that end I pray the Lord uses it.

I received this book for free from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

NOTE: I have not stopped writing devotions on Galatians or other subjects.  It just takes time, so as we move in and then pass the holidays I hope to send out more devotions and spiritual nuggets of truth from the Bible and men of God.

In His Service,
Jim

Devotion: Preparation is Vital

Today's devotional nugget:

I read this today and just felt it was too good to keep to myself so I'm sharing it with you all :-)  - Jim

David kills the lion

"Preparation is Vital" by A.W. Tozer

Moreover David said, "The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." --1 Samuel 17:37

David kills the bear

The whole Bible and all past history unite to teach that battles are always won before the armies take the field. The critical moment for any army is not the day it engages the foe in actual combat; it is the day before or the month before or the year before....

Preparation is vital. The rule is, prepare or fail. Luck and bluster will do for a while, but the law will catch up with us sooner or later, usually sooner....

It did not take Moses long to lead the children of Israel out through the Red Sea to deliverance and freedom; but his fittedness to lead them out was the result of years of hard discipline. It took David only a few minutes to dispose of Goliath; but he had beaten the giant long before in the person of the lion and the bear....

David kills Goliath

Preparation is vital. Let this be noted by everyone. We can seek God today and get prepared to meet temptation tomorrow; but if we meet the enemy without first having met God, the outcome is not conjectural; the issue is already decided. We can only lose.

"Love and Concern for Those Departing the Way of Grace"

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"Love and Concern
for Those Departing the Way of Grace"

Gal. 4:12-16    Lesson 22, 10-16-11 

12 Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all.

13 You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first.

14 And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

15 What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.

16 Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?

12 Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all.

Paul is pleading with the Galatians to join him in rejecting the law as a means of being justified with God. Paul was a Jew by natural birth, but he had forsaken the law as a means of being reconciled to God. Therefore, he was living like a Gentile in that sense. He's saying, "be like me (free from the law) because that's the way you really are." See 1 Corinthians 9:21

The Galatians' tendencies toward legalism hadn't affected Paul. He was going to continue in grace.

Paul was in essence saying, "Why are you dropping out of the university of grace, and enrolling again in the kindergarten of the Law?"

13 You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first [visit].

What this "physical infirmity" was is not made clear in the Bible (though many think they know what it was), so I chose to leave it as is. I don't know what it was, but it was a "physical infirmity" of some sort. That is enough information for me to know that when the Galatians first met Paul his outward appearance was not good, but they didn't let that factor in.

Question: Do we allow someone's appearance affect how open we are to hear them?

Paul also said he was not eloquent in speech (see 1 Cor. 2:1). Historians usually say he was short and balding. Not quite your picture of most modern day tele-evangelists. We as a people can be really shallow when appearance factors into our receiving from someone. We do this with: Physical attractiveness, height, weight, speaking voice, charisma, etc. We may miss out on hearing from a man of God because of such thinking.

14 And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

They received Paul as an angel/messenger of God, as if Paul's words were straight from Christ Jesus (which in a real sense they were as Paul was the Lord's spokesman). What matters most is the message, not the messenger.

As we see in verse 14, instead of turning from him in disgust, as might have been expected, the Galatians had given most earnest heed to Paul's testimony for JESUS and had accepted the SAVIOUR with an enthusiasm that knew no bounds. They received Paul, prostrated with pain and weakness as he was, as an angel of GOD, as the personal representative of the Son of GOD Himself. How ingloriously, then, did their present apostasy contradict their early zeal for CHRIST!

15 What then was the blessing you enjoyed? (or What happened to all your joy?) For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. 

Legalism causes people to lose their joy. This is what happened to the Galatians. The NIV translates this phrase as, "What happened to all your joy?"

Their former state of JOY was caused by the fact that they responded to the doctrines of the grace of God in Christ.

Next, this verse talks about Paul's eyes. Whatever happened to Paul likely affected his eyes, and at one time they would have done anything for him, even given him their own eyes (if that were possible). This was the depth of their affection toward the one who had brought them the liberating message of salvation in Jesus Christ alone, but now they had turned away from him.

Note: Another possibility for this text is that Paul does not literally mean by these statements that there was something wrong with his eyes. Just as today when someone says, "I'd give my right arm for them," that doesn't necessarily mean there is anything wrong with the other person's right arm. This is just a way of expressing an individual's commitment to another person, even to the point of sacrificing a valuable part of his own body for the benefit of the one he loves. Likewise, Paul may just be saying that these Galatians were at one time willing to do anything for Paul; what had changed?

16 Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?

Those (Galatian believers) who had once been so very close and thankful for the message of liberty (grace) are now looking at him as an enemy for telling them the truth (in love).

They had become hostile to Paul.

"Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?" How typical is this reaction to wholesome admonition of the attitude of men and women today! Regardless of how much he may need it, the average person resents correction. The servant of CHRIST dare not change his course with every shift in the wind of popular favor.

The truth isn't always welcomed, but it truly is love to tell a person the truth regardless of whether he welcomes it or not.

Question: Will you stand for truth even when those closest to you are going in the path of error?

A must listen to song here!

Until next time, walk in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ!