Galatians 3:1-6
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
The Galatians had been had! Someone had gotten to them, had bewitched them. They had reverted back to old habits of seeking justification by their own efforts. They had bewitched themselves.
They had been given the Spirit. It came not through their own efforts to gain favor with God, but by grace through faith. But old habits die hard. Surely this faith thing is not enough. Surely I have to be better, try harder, live cleaner. So I take the reigns again, and fail. As opposed to letting God lead and succeed. Not that I necessarily succeed in the ways that I desire, but I do succeed in pleasing and worshiping Him as He desires.
To take back the reigns is to fail. To believe, to trust in God, that is where righteousness is found. And shouldn't that be what we are looking for?
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