“You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.” [Galatians 3:1]
Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia must have hit hard. These words from their trusted spiritual leader would have been painful to receive, as he calls them out as ‘foolish’ and ‘bewitched’; even accusing them of deserting their faith in the gospel of Christ. Ouch!
But such was Paul’s passion for defending the purity of the gospel.
However much Paul loved the Galatian church, he could not stand by and allow the message of Christ’s life, death and resurrection to be corrupted by their misrepresentation of its truth. And it wasn’t an option to remain silent when he saw his precious brothers and sisters in Christ becoming enslaved by the false teaching of the Judaziers. Paul went head-to-head with the crux of the issue: the infiltration of lies.
LIES… The hallmark of the devil since Genesis 3 (he is so unoriginal!) Deception is the enemy’s master strategy in disrupting the saving work of the gospel of Christ in the world, and especially amongst God’s people. Not only in Galatia 2,000 years ago, but today!
Paul fiercely called out the lie and pointed out how crazy it was that they knew the truth and had experienced the power of it in their own lives, but would now abandon what was true and wander off truth’s path into dangerous territory. His letter is an urgent appeal to bring the church back into alignment with the gospel: powerful, life-transforming truth that sets people FREE!
“It was for freedom that Christ set us free… do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Gal. 5:1)
Deception is subtle. By its very nature, it’s difficult to even recognise deception’s hold on us and how it’s influencing our lives. But – like Paul – we must be committed to guarding ourselves against it, calling it out and diligently eradicating its roots in our thinking. Because lies are sent to kill!
Kill obedience;
kill relationships;
kill faith;
kill the pursuit of God-given dreams.
EVERYTHING that comes from the enemy has been purposed for our destruction – ‘to steal and kill and destroy’ (John 10:10). And he is 100% intentional and dogged in his pursuit of God’s people, prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).
By planting a lie amongst the Galatian church about relying on the works of the Law, the enemy enslaved people to a righteousness-by-works mentality. His schemes are the same in our lives today – to draw us into agreeing with lies that will undermine our identity in Christ and ultimately hold us captive to deception and unbelief.
Do any of these statements run on repeat in your mind?
- ‘There’s no coming back from this mistake.’
- ‘It wouldn’t matter if I was here or not.’
- ‘This issue at work is too insignificant for God to care about.’
- ‘If I was more like him/her, I’d make more of an impact for God’s Kingdom.’
- ‘This situation is never going to change. It’s hopeless.’
I battle thoughts like this more often than I’d like to admit. And when I’ve allowed these types of thoughts to ‘become truth’ to me, they’ve caused havoc. I’ve been enslaved to intimidation, lack of confidence, fear of making mistakes, hopelessness. And the result is always a form of death – I stop stepping forward into the things I feel called to, I self-sabotage opportunities, I hide and, with that, withdraw my contribution and silence my voice. In essence, I forfeit the power of Christ’s gospel at work in my life and become less effective for His Kingdom.
I’m so grateful for the ‘Pauls’ in my life who have called out the lies and led me back to Truth.
And perhaps you need a Paul today to encourage you to stop agreeing with lies, to cancel out the voice of the enemy and to take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17), and get fighting!
Too much is at stake!
Let’s commit to taking captive every thought that is not aligned with Truth and bring it into submission to the Word of God. Let’s deny the enemy his pleasure in seeing us held back from our God-given purpose, and live in the power and the freedom of the gospel of Christ.
Mel is Head of School for Worship.Works’ newly launched School of Work-Based Ministry – equipping believers to change their world through their work.