Daily Devotional for Tuesday 5th March
A heart-to-heart with Paul
We join Paul in our reading today, having a heart-to-heart moment with the Galatians. Up until this point he has focused on teaching them, mounting a step-by-step argument, requiring his listeners to follow it closely and think hard. Now, quite suddenly, he tells them what he is thinking, how it feels, and what sort of thoughts are rushing through his head at a more personal level. Almost every line is an appeal to friendship, to family loyalty, to a mutual bond established by their common experience of what God has done for them together.
It all goes back to the time when Paul first arrived in Galatia. He was in bad shape. We don’t know what the problem was, some think he was sick, others that he had been badly beaten in a recent persecution. Either way though, it seems his physical condition when he arrived proved to be a trial to the Galatians. But this didn’t stop them from welcoming him; in fact, God worked so powerfully through him, that it was as if he were an angel of God, or even as if he were Christ Jesus himself.
And so, Paul asks them, what’s gone wrong, what’s happened to all their joy? At the time they would have done anything for him, to speak of tearing your eyes out for someone was a way of saying ‘I would do anything for you’. Paul is appealing to their loyal friendship, surely, they are not going to turn away from him?
The real reason for the break in their relationship has been the other people who have come in, zealous to win them over. Paul says it’s fine to be zealous, providing the purpose is good. Paul wants them to be on fire with love for God, for the gospel, and for the fellowship of all other believers.
Faced with this, Paul says he feels like a mother, who after giving birth, finds herself going through labour pains all over again, watching her children struggle to become the mature adults they were supposed to be. He wants them to be filled with Christ.
Our reading today is an example of how teaching and pastoral work go hand in hand when it comes to sharing the gospel. Paul, one of the greatest ever theologians was determined to remind the Galatians that he wasn’t just a brain with a mouth attached, but a warm-hearted human being, with a primary claim on their love and loyalty.
Time to reflect…
Is there a relationship in your life that doesn’t fill you with joy like it used to?
Do you need to have a heart-to-heart with someone, telling them what you are thinking and feeling?
Pause to pray…
Dear God, you want us to be on fire with love for you. May that love flow out into our relationships with others. We lift up to you any relationships that have lost their joy, and ask that you help us to be honest about how we are feeling, pouring in your love and healing into the situation. Amen
