No Other Gospel
Paul opens up the letter to the Galatians with loving salutations. Then he gets right back at correcting the church for what they have done incorrectly. He wants them to know that there is no other Gospel other than one of Jesus Christ. They had turned to a different gospel which so many people do when they do not understand Jesus and his purpose on earth. We read the gospel and do not understand or allow for barriers to distort what we are to gather from the reading. Or we do not read the word of God and listen to what others tell us overlooking the importance for us to read on our own. In Galatians 1:10, Paul shows that he is bonded to serving God first and not man. Paul says "For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ." He is not trying to persuade God to think how he thinks, but show men/others how he will not try to seek man's approval over God's. He was not going to water the gospel down and deliver a different message as a people pleaser would do. He was going to give it straight to them as he was an apostle of God that was chosen by God's grace even before Paul was born (Galatians 1:15-17).
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Living in a Box
I was driving home the other night and was thinking to myself about some of the patterns I have in my life. One of these patterns is living in a box. Not a literal box, but a figurative one. There are fears that I have that have been in control of decisions I made. I rationalized these decisions and utilized the boundaries I created in order to keep the "worst" from happening. There is nothing wrong with boundaries, but when the boundaries are outside of God's will, that's where the problem lies.
When we read 2 Timothy 1:7 we know that God did not give us a spirit of fear. God does not want us to live in fear, especially when we are doing things that glorify Him. There would be no need to be fearful when God tells you to do something to glorify the Kingdom. That fear can come from not thinking you are good enough to do it. Or that fear could come from thinking people won't like what you are doing. But, God can use imperfect people to get His message across (2 Samuel 11 and Matthew 1:6). And what we do for God isn't about how everyone will take it (Matthew 10:28). We are not people pleasers. We are servants to the will of God, our King.
Now, as I move forward in live I see that the box was supposed to be keeping me safe, but it was also keeping me from living life and living it abundantly in God's will (John 10:10). It kept me from doing what God wanted me to because I was not thinking how God wanted me to think. When I am in tune with Christ like thinking on God sized goals, I have no reason to fear. Maybe that fear was from Satan to keep me from being one with God, but we need not fear as we walk with God (Isaiah 41:10).
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Approval of People
There are things we do that are so common place to us that actually have nothing to do with what we think unless it is tied to how people will perceive it. There are people who volunteer from time to time because of the photo opportunity. There is a cosmetic surgery industry that flourishes from insecurities and perceptions of others. Don't get me started on the fashion industry and red carpet events. That thrives on public perception and who is wearing what from which designer.
Living for the approval of people is no way to live. Every generation will cherish something else. The 1950s had a different view of males and females than how this generation views what defines a male and female. How people choose to see us isn't important. How God sees us is what is important. People see the outside, God sees our heart.
Jesus had just finished telling a parable of the dishonest manager (Luke 16:1-13). The Pharisees never liked Jesus's teaching, ideas and parables and ridiculed him. Instead of getting angry and getting into an argument (as many of us would do) for being ridiculed Jesus replied with a simple statement that has deep meaning. Jesus said, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God." He was telling them that they do things and say things to have the approval of people but they overwrite and ignore what God will think about it.
What God has to say about what we do and what we say matters not more than other things or less than other things, but is the only thing that matters. Have you ever had a time where you did something nice for someone and they thought or someone else thought that you had ulterior motives? It has happened to me. You try to do the right thing but people look at it with the wrong lens. Or there are times I thought I was doing the right thing and really it had an ulterior motive. Man sees the outside, God sees the inside (1 Samuel 16:7). Let pleasing God be your focus.
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