Galatians 4:17-20 —You do you if it's for me

READ THIS: Galatians 4:17-20

17 Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them. 18 It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you. 19 My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20 how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!

 

WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY?

"Those people" are the Judaizers. They're the ones who have been telling the Galatians the false gospel from the first chapter, emphasizing the law instead of the grace of Jesus. The Judaizers are convincing the Galatians to separate from Paul and do things differently, but it's just because the Judaizers are passionate (zealous) about themselves. They don't really care about the Galatians' wellbeing. Verses 19-20 then show how stressed Paul is about the Galatians being so easily swayed, and how much he wishes he could talk in person so his tone could be clearer. 

The whole situation is kind of like this: Your mom finds out that you have been vaping because some kids at school were doing it and made fun of you for not doing it. She starts texting you all the reasons why she's upset you would do that, but she's not angry at you for funsies. She's angry at you because you are actively doing something that hurts your body just because some other kids are doing it. And those other kids do NOT have your best interests in mind. Your mom does. But, as she's texting you, she's also upset because she's worried that you're going to misread the tone as her just being mad at you, when really, she's only mad because of how much she loves you!

THINK ABOUT IT:

1. Have your parents ever been mad at you because you were doing something that wasn't good for you? Why were they mad?? Like why is that the emotion/reaction?

2. Has there been a time when you wanted someone to do something, but it wasn't because that thing would actually help the person? (Ex/ Liz got mad at Dan in two different situation because Dan wouldn't do what Liz wanted. One time, Liz wanted Dan to try to hit really low notes when his voice was messed up, the other time Liz wanted Dan to quit drinking so much soda because of his throat issues. The first anger was a LOT different from the second one).

 

TRY THIS:

List out the top three things that you really want someone else in your life to do (and that makes you a little angry that they won't do it). Now, think about whether that thing is good for the other person. Why do you want them to do that thing? Is it just for you?