Month: November 2022

Galatians 6:2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Lord, There is much in this last chapter of Paul’s letter to the Galatians that is so applicable to my life today. Thank You for the reminders that we are to carry each other’s burdens, help walk each other home, under Your strength, in Your power, not boasting except in You.

Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Lord, When I work in my own strength, for my own glory, it is easy to become weary and exhausted. Help those emotions to remind me that my focus is on myself and not You. Help me, when I’m weary and exhausted, to refocus on You and Your people.

Galatians 6:10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Lord, I want to live a life of meaning and value. Help me to want that for You and not for my own sake. Help me to glorify You as I comfort Your people. Amen.

Galatians 6:14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Have a blessed day.

Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Living under the law is pretty easy, pretty cut and dried: Do this. Don’t do that. End of discussion. Living under the law of love is much more difficult. Love reacts to individual people, to where they are, to what they need. There is no cut and dried behavior, though there are certainly guidelines. Loving can be messy and contentious and just plain difficult. Following the law carries none of these challenges.

Galatians 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

But God didn’t create us for mindless law abiding, for taking the easy way. He didn’t gift us with His grace to make us automatons of law. He made us wonderfully, uniquely, messily individual, and He calls us to love as He loves us: completely, wholeheartedly.

Galatians 5:13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

Precious Lord, Thank You that You didn’t create us to be mindless slaves to the law. Forgive me that sometimes I long for the ease of law-abiding instead of the discomfort of loving. Remove my heart of stone and replace it with a heart of fierce love for You, a heart like Yours. Draw me closer. Amen.

Galatians 5:14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Have a blessed day.

Galatians 4:4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law….

My niece is a beautiful reminder of what it means to be adopted into a family. She is not physically blood of our blood, but she is so definitely our family. She looks like her daddy, with whom she shares no genetic markers, and she is soooo much like me in her need for a plan. She is absolutely family.

Galatians 4:5 …to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.

There is no distinction between her kinship and any of my other nieces and nephews. This relationship helps me understand these verses in Galatians better because I understand on a gut level that distinctions are erased when someone is adopted into a family. Family is family, adopted or biological. God’s family is no different.

Galatians 4:6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”

Lord, Thank You for my precious niece and for the lessons she has helped me learn about what it means to be adopted. Thank You for adopting me into Your family, erasing any distinctions. Family means love, compassion, lots of chaos and grace. Help me to treat all my brothers and sisters in Christ as family. Amen.

Galatians 4:7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

Have a blessed day.

Galatians 3:26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith….

One line of commentary jumped out at me: “The Holy Spirit is not a prize earned through the works of the law.” Aren’t Christians often guilty of an elitist attitude in Christ? I’ve seen it many times, that snide derision of, “I am one of God’s chosen. Too bad you’re not” attitude.

Galatians 3:27 …for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

But Christ isn’t a prize to be won; He is a gift given freely. He’s not a commodity to be hoarded (I have Him and you don’t); He’s a treasure to be freely shared.

Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Lord, Thank You for these continued lessons on sharing. Thank You for the reminder that Your love is a beautiful gift meant to be shared with all of Your creation. Help me to shine Your light so that all may know Your goodness. Amen.

Galatians 3:29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Have a blessed day.

Galatians 2:19 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.

The King James Version of Gal 2:20 contains the phrase “not I, but Christ.” Some time ago I came across commentary about this version of this verse that stuck with me. Honestly, I remember nothing of the commentary except the strength and appropriateness of the phrase “not I, but Christ.”

Galatians 2:20a I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me….

There is so much I cannot do, so many ways I fall short again and again. But I’m not tasked with saving myself. I can’t. Thankfully, “not I, but Christ.” Sometimes I get awfully judgy about other people, what they say and do or fail to say and do, “yet not I, but Christ.” Sometimes I label people as too far gone, unworthy of Christ’s grace, “yet not I, but Christ.”

Galatians 2:20b …The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Precious Savior, Thank You for the truth of Galatians 2:20. Thank You that You live in me, that You are an intricate part of my being. When I feel overwhelmed or judgmental, when I doubt or condemn, every moment of every day, help me remember, “not I, but Christ.” Thank You, Jesus. Amen.

Galatians 2:21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

Have a blessed day.

Galatians 1:3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ….

I don’t like feeling powerless. Who does? Perhaps that’s why I struggle so sometimes with the fact that there is nothing I can do or ever did to save myself. My salvation is a gift from God, one that I don’t deserve and can never earn.

Galatians 1:4 …who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father….

That “can never earn” bit is the rub, I think. I can do good, useful, clever things. But I can’t save myself. I can’t “win” God’s grace. Thankfully, I don’t have to. And not only am I gifted with God’s grace, but also, I am gifted with Christ IN me, so that I may be His hands and feet in this world.

Galatians 1:5 …to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Lord, Thank You for Your love, mercy, and grace, which I don’t deserve and can never earn. Forgive me that I continue to struggle with this issue of feeling like I need to DO something to earn Your grace instead of just accepting it as the incredible gift it is. Help me, Lord. Amen.

Galatians 1:15-16 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being.

Have a blessed day.