DON’T ALTER YOUR GIVEN STRATEGY

Reference text: Galatians 3:1-5

Galatians 3:3 Are you so irrational? After you started with the Spirit, are you now finishing up with your own human effort?

It appears Saint Paul releases all the fetters and drops his anchor in this chapter of the book of Galatians. Across the various versions we might read, his descriptions remains untempered, describing his audience as: ‘foolish, irrational, crazy, senseless, or thoughtless’. Those are very harsh words to have used, but Paul was coming from somewhere.

In the verses that follow, we understand that Paul noticed a change in approach of the galatians that had the potential to shipwreck all they had suffered for the Gospel. Hence, the firm reminder that now was not the time to shift from a life in the Spirit, to one dependent on their own efforts.

We can be so helped by God that for every new feat we attain, it becomes more about us than it is about Him. No longer is God glorified and projected through us, but we aim to outshine and stand taller on the stage He has prepared. We increase, so He decreases, when the charge is to to the opposite. The strategy the Galatians had were to partner with God in what He was doing, and here they were trying to invent their own strategy dependent on their effort.

We, like them, are reminded ‘It is not yet a total loss, but it certainly will be if you keep this up!’ (vs 4)

#sly