Scripture: Galatians 1:10
Am I trying to win over human beings or God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I wouldn’t be Christ’s slave.
Thought for the Day: Beginning this Sunday, I will preach four weeks on the Apostle Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. The hope is for us (the community) to spend some intentional time exploring this Letter (Epistle), with the hope of each person reading the entire letter more than once over these next four weeks. The four sermons will only touch on some of the major themes and ideas presented in this letter. Today, I want to draw from the first chapter where Paul describes himself as Christ’s slave or it could be translated as prisoner of Christ. The Greek word we translated as slave or prisoner is Doulos, which comes from the word which means chains. There was a practice in Ancient Rome where a prisoner was physically chained to his/her guard. It wasn’t simply behind bars or chained to a wall, but chained to one’s sentinel. In this verse, Paul suggests that he is chained to Christ. That’s very different then someone who is behind bars because of his/her faith. He is linked to Christ, and so wherever Christ goes, Paul will follow. How might your life look differently if you thought of yourself as being chained to Christ?
Prayer: I may have declared my belief in you, O Lord, but I desire to go beyond believing. Allow my life to be inescapably tied to the life of Jesus Christ. Amen.
LET’S JOIN TOGETHER
THIS SUNDAY
THE FIRST SUNDAY OF JUNE
