Having Begun With the Spirit
Are you so foolish? Having begun with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? (Galatians 3:3)
Gal. 3:1-5, 6:7-9, 14-15, 5:22-25; Act 15:1, 24; Rom. 3:27-30; Eph. 2:8; 1 Cor. 1:29-31
What Is God Saying?
A subtle problem was confusing the new Christians. In varying degrees, Paul had affection for all of the churches he established, but in Galatians, his impatience and exasperation are most evident. "O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?", "What has become of the satisfaction you felt?", "Have I become your enemy?" This is the only letter in which he does not ask for prayer for himself. The seriousness of their situation riveted his mind on what needed to be said to them.
The problem? A sect of Jewish Christians was insisting that to be a Christian, one must be a Jewish Christian, observing laws and rites of Judaism as the threshold to, and substance of the Christian faith. This alarmed Paul. He proclaimed the Gospel of salvation by faith alone. It would impede and negate his message to the Gentiles if they were required to become Jews first. His life's work was in danger of being sabotaged. So he says very plainly, "If justification were through the Law, then Chnst died to no purpose" (Gal 2:21). This thread of reasoning is woven into the fabric of the whole letter. "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?" (Gal. 3:5).
How Does This Apply To Us?
Christ has saved us to set us free-free to live for God, free to live according to his plan, free to produce the fruit of the Spirit, free to do the wrong thing, yes, but also free to do the right thing. "Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a person sows that shall they also reap" (Gal. 6:7). We become Christians by faith alone. We become mature Chnstians by allowing the Holy Spirit to do his work (Gal. 5:22-23). We are bound by no law except the law of love. In gratefulness for His dying for us, we work, but we do not work to be saved-Jesus Christ did that. We cannot glory in the Cross while glorying in the works of our flesh, our goodness, our minds. Having begun with the Spirit, let us go on with the Spirit-following his lead, trusting his power, and bearing his fruit.
Pray With Me
I am yours, O Christ, because I believe your Word. I am yours because I receive your grace. I don't have to be good enough to become yours. I am yours already, and I am yours forever. Deliver me, then, from the foolish belief that I should earn your blessing. Having begun with the Spirit, let me go on with the Spirit. May my life be as clay in the hands of the potter. Fashion me according to your will through the life and power of your Spirit within. Let my day be filled with continual looking upon the glory of the Lord. Let my day be filled with praise for who you are and for what you are doing. Let me glory in you until your glory is seen in me. Having begun with the Spirit, let me end with the Spirit--ending with the Spirit is never the end but the true beginning.
The life I must live in the flesh, I will live by faith in the Son of God. I will not begin with the Spirit and end with the flesh. I will yield to your wisdom and to your authority, O Spirit of God, in whose gracious power the good work begun is ever continued. I will not give in to the dominion of self. I remember that to begin with, the Spirit is the truest of all beginnings, and to end with the flesh is the saddest of all endings. Let each hour of this day be a time of beginning with the Spirit. In no other way can I be secure from the danger of ending with the flesh.
In the name of Him who promised and gave both the beginning and the continuing grace of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Moving On In The Life of Prayer
Usually, when we pray we want to be encouraged and comforted, but in prayer, we also need to be warned. We started the new life by the power of the Spirit, but are we continuing that new life in the company and with the blessing of the Spirit? "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit" (Gal. 5:25).
