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The book of Galatians is another letter written by Paul. Paul was previously called Saul and he was one of the most important figures of the Apostolic age as he founded several churches in Asia and Europe and contributed a lot in spreading the teachings of Jesus Christ. The book of Galatians was written to the churches in Galatia as Paul had heard that the Galatians had turned to a different gospel.

6″I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently, some people are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! (Galatians 1:6-8)

Gospel means the message concerning Jesus Christ and in our era, we encounter many things that contradict the gospel of Jesus we believed in. As Christians, we have to be on our guard to make sure that no one and nothing would take us far from our God. The existence of many types of the gospel is one of the reasons the bible tells us to be sober and vigilant as our enemy is walking like a lion seeking who he may devour (1 Peter 5:8-11). Our enemy is working trying to defeat us, we should work as well knowing that he is already defeated and walking as conquerors (Romans 8:37). According to Paul, the fate of anyone preaching another gospel as the one of Jesus Christ should be God’s curse. It is as cruel as that; they deserve God’s curse which is something we would not wish to anyone.

The verses above reminded me of Marc 4:14-20

¹⁴ “The farmer sows the word. ¹⁵ Some people are like seeds along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no roots, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. ²⁰ Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

The churches in Galatians were like the three types of people in the parabole above given by Jesus in Marc. Maybe they were excited hearing about Jesus at first but then they allowed other people with the false “gospels” to get their attention. Maybe they received the word of God but did not have the root to implement the gospel of Jesus in their everyday life. Or maybe the worries of this life choked their desire for the word. Let’s note that Paul says that the Galatians were called by Christ and since he is saying about deserting, they were also followers of Christ; they were part of the body of Christ but something happened and took their eyes off of Jesus Christ.

This is a good example of many of us as we have many things that come and take a big part of our life and leave us with no time to spend with our savior. We are so bombarded by all things such as our jobs, our families, and our plans for the future but the lack of zeal and desire to pursue God’s word can also make us passive without knowing that the longer we spend time far from God, the quicker we will find ourselves following other “gospels”. Fortunately, God’s mercy is new every day (Lamentations 3:22-23) so come on to Him and He will welcome you no matter what you did.

“For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. ¹⁴ I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers” (Galatians 1: 13-14).

Paul was a persecutor but still, God used him in such a way that he is known as one of the most important figures in the apostolic age. The same zeal he was using to persecute the church of God is the same he finally used to the advancement of the kingdom of God as many who had heard about him were praising God because of Him, because of how much he changed.

God wants to use you! Your story can actually make someone else praise Him as he/she may see how much God changed you. God wants to show Himself to this world through you. He doesn’t use perfect people He just uses those who make themselves available to Him. Let’s not allow the devil to rob us of the word, the seed that was put in us. Let’s work on it and walk in it, making our relationship with Jesus a priority in our life, the pillar of our life. Let’s not give place to no other “gospel” other than the true gospel which is the one that teaches Jesus Christ.

¹⁰ “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ”. (Galatians 1:10)

The Bible tells us that we cannot serve two masters because we will either find ourselves loving one more than the other (Matthew 6:24). We cannot love the world and serve God, we cannot seek other people’s approval and serve Him. The good news is that we do not need to do anything to be approved by God. He loved us before we were even born, and Jesus died for us when we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). He loves You and He wants to be part of your everyday life.

Prayer: Father God, thank you for sending your son to die for my sins, thank you for loving me unconditionally. Forgive me for all those times I did not keep my eyes on you and turned to other pleasures. I want to make you first in my life. Create the desire to always seek your face and live the life you want me to live. Give me the ability to work for Your kingdom with the same zeal I use for other things or even more. May the excitement I had of coming into your presence when I first accepted you in my life never ends but gets bigger. Help me to never get used to all those little things you do in my life but instead remind me how great you are, in Jesus’ name, Amen.