Surrendering the Blessing (Galatians 4:15-20)

SCRIPTURE

Galatians 4:15-20
What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. 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! I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

COMMENT

What is the blessedness that they had lost? I believe it is the gospel, the idea that Jesus died for our sins and that is sufficient for us. When we surrender our freedom and go back to trying to live up to an impossible standard (a law of any kind), we have given up a freedom for a burden that at least eventually will crush us. To give up on the freedom we have in Christ is to give up on liberty and the standard  by which our love for Christ determines our actions and to take up  to a standard that says we must do certain things to be acceptable and the failure to do so means that not only is our love for Him insufficient, but His love for us is as well.

Prior to surrendering their blessedness, how were they living? I propose that they were living a life of sacrificial surrender to Christ. Look at how they treated Paul. For the sake of the gospel, they would have torn out their own eyes and given them to him. Now, because of the caustic influence of others, they resent him and his words. Paul is perplexed by their behavior. Why the change? Why surrender grace for law?

I think the answer for that is simple: as humans we tend to want to take the path of least resistance. Grace is better, its burden is lighter, but it is also harder in some ways. Law is comfortable. I don't have to think or commit to follow a prescribed path. I don't have to think. Just go on autopilot and crash right into the mountain. Don't smoke, drink, cuss, or whatever your belief system says. Then you don't have to think about what it means to love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself. I sure hope that the GPS has been updated.