Galatians 2: 15-21

Tuesday, September 03, 2013    Galatians 2: 15-21

The leader of the continuing education seminar I was attending asked us to fill in the blank on three statements: 1- I am ____; 2- Others are ____; 3- The world is ____. The exercise, which is often used by counselors, is aimed at getting a quick snapshot of your general mental or emotional health. The answers the counselor is looking for are: 1- I am OK; 2- Others are OK; 3- The world is safe. Our group of pastors must have shocked the seminar leader because our answers were very diverse and didn’t much resemble what he was expecting. I offered a prayer of thanksgiving to God that day because my instinctive response to the exercise was exactly what Paul was affirming to the Galatians. I answered, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Others are the children of God and the world is God’s and the fullness thereof.”

In this passage, Paul proclaims the foundation of the Christian faith: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20b). As the followers of Jesus, our life, our identity is in Christ. The Jewish believers were initially shocked to find that God’s plan of redemption included the Gentiles. As they struggled to accept this ‘new’ salvation of God, they assumed that it would mean the Gentiles would be incorporated into the Jewish faith and customs. Paul then confronts them with the news that God is doing a completely NEW work in Christ. While the Jews were the first to hear the Good News that did not mean a Gentile had to become a Jew in order to receive the Good News. Salvation is not about incorporating Jesus into our existing life. Salvation is about completely letting go of our existing life, and immersing ourselves into New Life in Christ Jesus.

The Life in Christ we seek is experienced only after we have come to the place in our lives when nothing, absolutely nothing, but the love of God in Christ Jesus, satisfies the longings of our soul. The only way we can come to that place, is to first experience that our efforts in the flesh to satisfy our longings for love, acceptance and worth do not bear lasting fruit. The Apostle Paul contrasts the flesh life with the life in Christ as the difference between night and day, as between death and life: “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Mother Teresa said, “You’ll never know Jesus is all you need, until Jesus is all you have.” Getting to the place where we are broken, clinging to nothing but Christ is the work of our sovereign God, and God alone. Our part is to embrace where God is taking us and to keep our eyes of Jesus.   

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  In addition to this BLOG they are distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        When Christ Thinks of Me: Meditations for the Followers of Jesus will be released on Amazon Kindle October, 1, 2013.

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.