To God Be The Glory

 

11/25/2020

Galatians 6:14 “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

My job is not to impress people, but to love them and live out my faith always pointing to my Savior. Christian posturing is not where I should be, nor is it where I want to be. If those around me view me as anything other than a servant of Christ, then I am doing something wrong. If a person recognizes my faith walk, or some blessing that comes from something they have asked me to pray about, I must always be mindful to give all glory to God.

In this part of Galatians 6, Paul is talking about how being circumcised or uncircumcised means nothing; the only thing that matters is being a new creation in Christ. I should not be concerned with impressing people by means of the flesh, or boast about anything other than the Cross of Christ and what He did there to save me.

Today, my husband had a MAJOR door close to something our whole family, and others, had been earnestly praying about daily for a while now. When we found out about the door being closed, we – especially my sweet husband – were deeply disappointed. This was immediately followed by, in his own words, self-pity. Then came the guilt for having these feelings, because he was supposed to be acting faithfully about God’s will. God understands all these feelings, of course, and does not expect us to be false with them before Him. Chambers writes, “In the apostle Paul there was a strong and steady coherence underneath, consequently he could let his external life change as it liked and it did not distress him because he was rooted and grounded in God. Most of us are not spiritually coherent because we are more concerned about being coherent externally” I know that I am so guilty of this. When things of life press in or do not go the way I want them to, and I react badly, it clearly means that I am concerned more with the external. Paul says in Galatians 6:17 “…for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.” He was actually physically beaten for his faith in the Cross of Christ.

Would I avoid persecution for my faith, as the people in this section of scripture tried to do, or willingly take my stripes? When I have a major disappointment in my life, can I lift it to Jesus in prayer and praise even with a heavy heart?

This evening, my husband walked through a few stages of emotion. Disbelief, sadness, self-pity, guilt, and acceptance. Thankfully, he experienced these in fairly rapid succession. This would not have happened if he did not pour out his heart to God in prayer. Then he contacted some trusted brothers in Christ, and was given the love, support, and encouragement he needed. In each one, he heard Jesus. Though still disappointed, he was pretty much back to being his old positive self within a couple of hours. To God be the glory.