Monday, July 5: Galatians 2-Time and diligence, year after year.

This is a wonderfully rich chapter. There were any number of moments, as I read, where my mind began to muse deeper into the word declared…

Reading verse 11: When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. My mind contemplated when and how we confront a brother or sister we believe is in the wrong, and how do we do it appropriately and biblically…

I also contemplated that if Peter -the apostle Peter, the spirit-filled miracle working Peter- is wrong here, then we all get it wrong at times and how much we need the correction of a trusted brother/sister in Jesus.

Reading verses 15-16: "We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified I thought about my justification through Jesus’ atoning death and what it means to have faith in Jesus… real life-changing faith.

But where I mused longest today was with verse 1: Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem…. The fourteen years caught my attention. Fourteen years is a long time, add to it the 3 years Paul notes toward the end of chapter 1 and we are up to 17 years. Paul has been at this ‘following Jesus’ a long time. He has been exercising his faith, studying and obediently living the scriptures, changing, growing in faith and pursuing God for 17 years. He has stayed the course and he is doing the hard work that faith requires, not to earn his salvation but to go deeper with the Lord.

Growth takes time and diligence.  That was the principle nudge of the Spirit I had this morning as I read. God was reminding me to keep at it, to stay in the Word and live what I find in the Word. God is reminding me that faith-greatness or faith-maturity comes with a cost… the cost of time and diligence.

O. Lord God, Father, Spirit, Jesus, too often I grow weary and I don’t give my all to study or to living what I know. I allow complacency and even lethargy slip into to my faith life. Today, first of all, I confess this propensity within me. Forgive me, Lord! Forgive me.

Secondly, Lord, I pray for strength, stick-to-it-ness, and courage to keep on walking with, growing in and living for You, my Lord and my God. In Jesus name and through the power of the Holy Spirit I pray. Amen.