Tag: Galatians

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When you are the result of the lack of faith?

Reading Time: 3 minutes

And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac. But you are now being persecuted by those who want you to keep the law, just as Ishmael, the child born by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born by the power of the Spirit. But what do the Scriptures say about that? “Get rid of the slave and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the free woman’s son. ‭‭Galatians‬ ‭4‬:‭28‬-‭30‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Paul is genius for not only reminding, admonishing us about the struggle within our own nature – to go pharisaical versus free for all. Instead Paul defines the third option, the Jesus way. We can often choose to bury our frustrations and double down INTO the law (which brings death and back to a religious slavery) or just give up and live like hell, letting all constraints and boundaries go (which also brings death and back to living by the flesh). The Jesus way is certainly grace (not the law) but also yielding to the Spirit and not the flesh.

The natural tendency for the Jewish believer was to run back to the false sense of safety and try to fulfill the law. Paul says “don’t do it.” Within this life lesson Paul conveniently interprets a difficult Old Testament predicament for us, “how does God deal with our lack of faith when we CHOOSE to do things our own way.” Notice, God didn’t stop Abraham and Sarah from their decision to “make” an heir. The “consequences” were a human child that created havoc for centuries to come. It was not Ishmael’s fault, nor Hagar’s! And, God did not tell Abraham to kill the child or the mother, even if Sarah, in her anger, wanted them both dead. God spared Hagar and Ismael and allowed a great nation to come out of this horrible situation. I believe this great nation, this global movement has a genuine, genetic disposition to anger, hatred and revenge.

Paul clearly shows us; this is the results of choosing self determination over faith – the law (self will) verses grace (faith in God’s promises). It makes me wonder, “what do we do with living results of our bad decisions or lack of faith, even when they produce human beings?” I do not know. I do know that killing them is not an option. Paul tells the Galations, in a spiritual context, “get rid of the slave and her son.” I get that. But many of our decisions yield very real people that must live their lives despite a “wrong” choice in the past.

One of the reasons I ask such a complicated question is because I was born from a union between two people that were broken and most likely only got married just to give me a sense of legitimacy. They divorced soon after an was born and I never met the mother who carried me and gave me life. After I was born, I was taken from her and my family asked that she never have anything to do with me in the future. My birth mother died in August, 2018 at 83 years old. I just found out a couple weeks ago. Crazy thing is, she lived in the same city as I did for over 20 years – just a few miles from where I lived. I never knew.

Prayer

Dad,
Clearly our decisions have consequences, even eternal ones. Yet, your will, your mercy allows even the most difficult decisions and outcomes to be redeemed and restored. I am a perfect example, a product of a relationship that most likely started bad and ended even worse. I now live as a trophy of grace rather than a trope of failure. That’s because of your power to redeem all things. I am eternally grateful.

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Who’s my Mother?

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God’s own fulfillment of his promise. These two women serve as an illustration of God’s two covenants. The first woman, Hagar, represents Mount Sinai where people received the law that enslaved them. And now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia, because she and her children live in slavery to the law. But the other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman, and she is our mother.”  Galatians‬ ‭4‬:‭23‬-‭26‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The Apostle Paul uses his lawyer training, his pharisaical training to straighten out some questions regarding the Old Testament law. Paul takes these discussions very serious because it has a direct effect, not just on our salvation, but also on our behavior towards others – believers and nonbelievers alike. The very old story about Sarah and Hagar is a living object lesson to the approach the works versus grace and or perfection and judgment verses freedom and forgiveness. One doesn’t just lead to MORE sin, but also a mindset, a perception that the law gets one closer to God and separates them from the common sinner. This snobbery of perfection is WORSE than the than the clueless lawbreaker.

In our postmodern world, it’s not the direct following of the “big ten” commandments, it’s the casual substitution of other perceived rules that govern the “Hagar Covenant.” The enslaved mentality is wrapped up in Do’s and Don’ts.

The don’t’s
The don’ts are very physically apparent. Don’t dress a certain way. Don’t adorn yourself a certain way. Don’t tattoo yourself. Don’t do things that are clearly harmful to yourself and your family. Things like drinking alcohol, smoking or snorting whatever goes into your lungs – cigarettes, pipes, marijuana, vapes or cocaine. Don’t flaunt addictions like gambling, sex, porn or drugs. And, don’t hang out anywhere where “those” kind of people gather. And don’t curse and tell dirty NSFW jokes.

The Do’s
Do dress nice. Do go to church. Do read your Bible. Do be nice and kind. Do give to the church and the street-corner beggar, Don’t get caught gossiping, lying or cheating on things like taxes or business deals. It’s pretty clear that we have lists of Do’s and Don’ts.

The “doers” and “don’t-ers” know who’s who are are pretty happy being associated with their “people.” Sure, there are plenty of folks who play both sides, popping back and forth uncomfortably trying to have it both ways – do good er some times, don’t do good other times. In Paul’s day it was very clear who was supposed to be the righteous and who was clearly the sinner. Paul’s illustration to the churches in Galatia must have been super eye-opening and frustrating at the same time. He doesn’t compare the Do’s and Don’ts to appearances or un-ending list of behaviors. He says it comes down to faith in one of two ways.

Abraham & Sarah made a decision that became two different and quite oppositional ways to follow God. One, MAKE the promise happen by Hagar. Or two, RECEIVE the promise through Sarah. Two very different paths: One was a human plan, one was a God plan. One led to and still leads to SLAVERY the other led to and leads to FREEDOM. If we choose to live by religious rules and perceived perfection where God owes us salvation because we checked off a list, then this is what we get. We have chosen to forever be slaves to those rules, that ever-changing, non-transformative, transactional, self-motivated and determined righteousness. But if we choose the God plan, and receive the promise, we have to let go of all the natural human expectations on ourselves and others! When we choose the Sarah plan, the promise fulfilled, we will walk in a path of grace, mercy, forgiveness, understanding, wisdom and definitely drop the snobbery, the judgement, the eye-rolls and whispered comments under our breath. We’ll drop the unrealistic, unrelenting expectations of perfection and performance for us and others to prove ourselves worthy or pull ourselves out our muddy puddles of disappointment.

The God plan requires us to shut down our judgments and comparisons to others. It requires us to let God constantly wash our souls of the stench of selfishness and self righteousness. It is not easy! The former pharisee, Paul, reminds us “So, dear brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman; we are children of the free woman.” Whose YOUR spiritual momma, Hagar or Sarah?

Prayer

Dad,
I choose Sarah! I choose your plans for my life and my redemption. I choose freedom. I cannot choose both Hagar and Sarah! And since I choose Sarah, I must renounce judgment and looking down on others who’s stories are unknown to me. I must renounce comparison and replace it with compassion. Thank you for reminding me who is my real mother in faith!