The Personal Gospel

It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you, my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! (Galatians 4:18-19 ESV) Who do you think is better off spiritually: a person stuck in Buddhism; an atheist; or a church-going, rule following Christian? You might be tempted to create a scale. On one end are the people without any kind of spiritual beliefs, and on the other end is the card-carrying Christian (and somewhere in-between is the "spiritual" person). On the other hand, we might think it's better to have nothing than to have the wrong thing. However we arrange it, I’d like to challenge you to shake up your thinking. In our upcoming passage, Paul challenges the Galatians with the thought that they are in imminent danger of worshiping the wrong thing, themselves. This week, we will explore Galatians 4:12-20. I’d encourage you to take some time to read through the passage. Listen to Paul’s personal appeal. Through it I hope we will not only understand more of the gospel, but pick up Paul’s passion for people around him to be shaped by Christ.