Galatians 2:1-5 — Marathon Training
READ THIS: Galatians 2:1-5
1 Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. 2 I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain. 3 Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. 4 This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. 5 We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.Yesterday, we learned about how Paul went to Jerusalem and shared the incredible things Jesus did, but today, we are hearing about Paul's second time visiting Jerusalem... 14 years later. Paul talks about a bunch of things that happened during this journey, and it seems complicated... so let's try and break it down.
First, he makes sure the Galatian church knows that he only traveled to Jerusalem because God told him to. Secondly, Paul shared the Gospel to the leaders in Jerusalem, but did it in private because he did not want to embarrass them publicly. Then, we hear that the leaders there received the good news well! We see that they did not force Titus or any of the other Gentiles to change to the Jewish ways of living, but instead showed them grace. Lastly, we learn that there was a group of people there who did not really believe in the good news about Jesus, which is why Paul calls them false believers (flip back to Gal. 1:6-9 for info, this is that "false gospel" we learned about!)
But most importantly, Paul makes it clear in verse 2 that he wanted to be running his race with purpose. But what is this race? Paul loves to talk about his walk (and our walk) with Jesus like it is a marathon, because it is one! If we want to run the race that is 'life with Jesus' well, we need to run with a purpose and think about every step we take carefully.
I think to tell the difference between a good believer and a false one depends on where you are with your faith like if people bring you down but still say they believe in Jesus there probably false and just say it for show but if they show majority of the fruits of the spirits( not all because we're human we can't do everything perfect.) and are trying to spread you to do it too kind of like those kid president videos of randoms acts of kindness if you do one act of kindness it starts the chain.
ReplyDeleteAlso I run a 5k every year and the first time i ever ran it i got tired in the 1 and a half mile which isn't good but i didn't train for it so i ended up struggling for the rest of the race but unlike the race like with our feet it's not a struggle to continue our faith if we mess up if we do he's always behinds us almost like those skate trainers and the roller rink. we just turn around and his arms our open wide for us.
BEEPS!! I like how you talked about training. We do a lot better in a race when we prep before…if we walk into a race cold then it kinda goes rough. I think that’s like spending time with God on our good days, not just our bad days!
Delete