Friday, December 14: Galatians 2- The heart of the Gospel.

Verses15-16: 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.

Is it observing rules and regulations or faith in Jesus that saves people? Faith in Jesus!

Here is the crux of Galatians. It is not any set of rules, Jewish laws or church laws that save. Only Jesus saves! Paul got this and when he observed Peter, who had come to visit him in Antioch, slipping back into law-directed living, Paul confronted Peter to his face (11).

It was Paul’s direct, person-to-person approach to Peter that caught my devotional eye.

All too often we humans (and I am guilty of this far too often as well) oppose and confront others in the shadows and through less than direct means, like passive-aggressive actions. When we see something happening

-we gossip behind the others back…

-we enlist others to help straighten the person out…

-we do nothing because we are afraid to hurt them or loose a friend, or…

-we triangulate, bringing in another party to do the confrontation…

Paul went straight to Peter and man-to-man dealt with the problem. It struck me. NO interpersonal games, Paul owned his observations and confronted Peter with them.

It turns out in this case Paul was correct and the implication is that Peter got it and the church was better for it.  If Paul had been wrong they could have ironed things out, Paul would have been corrected and, again, the church would have been better for it.

It took two Big men to have this situation work out. I see some life lessons in the ‘how’ of the story and not just the ‘what and why.’

Thank You, Lord, for showing me this. Thank You, Lord, for an example of ‘speaking the truth in love.’ Thank You, Jesus, that faith in You, not the law, is the way of salvation. And Thank You, Lord, for men who cared and dared to live it –imperfectly as all humans do. Thank You, Jesus, for faith to believe in You. Amen.

 

No comments:

Post a Comment