I was reading something yesterday morning about quiet time and it hit home in my thinking. I spend a lot of time reading, praying, searching for nuggets of Truth to apply to my life, so I can serve God and others. I am fully aware Scripture is alive and it was given to help us navigate life in a fallen world. Yet, although I spend quiet time in this quest for important helps, I don’t always press beyond that which is good to reach for what is actually essential.
Many core doctrines we practice and hand down to others are really good and important. Things like Bible reading and interpretation, prayer, worship gathering, communion, etc., are all extremely important to our growth and development. They are beneficial to give our lives meaning and direction. Yet, there is something even more essential and we see it in our passage today.
Paul lived his life with a zeal for traditions, but that alone did not position him in a righteous place with God. Oh, he knew all about the God of the Old Testament and how the Lord interacted with people living by faith in God, as well as people dominated by the world’s system. After Paul met the Lord on the road to Damascus, his whole reality was altered. He realized how far he had wandered away from God’s plan…
When Jesus revealed himself to Saul on that road, it became clear Jesus was alive and Saul was spiritually dead! Jesus renamed him Paul when he embraced life from above. Paul began to compared his existing thinking and living to the revelation he had suddenly received from Christ and the miracle of love offered to humanity by the covenant of grace.
From the moment his eyes were open to the Truth, Paul’s zeal suddenly changed and he started immediately preaching the Good News of salvation by grace through faith. However, something usual happened after a short while; God then lead Paul to push away for a time of reflection and he traveled to Arabia—a place of deserts AND oil. God began to show Paul what was truly essential.
Paul needed to deeply understand his identity and the world’s depravity into which he had been born and was living. Paul had to acknowledge he was spiritually malnourished apart from Christ. Lastly, he needed a sustaining supply of the oil of the Spirit. Only the Spirit could connect, convict, correct, and counsel him in the mission essential—recognizing how lost and desperate humanity is without Christ.
If we actually see ourselves clearly and we know the measure of grace we have received from Christ, we will cling to these essentials. God wants to grow us, shape us, and save the world through us. Reach for the Truth and share what is essential with someone, today.
Galatians 1:11-24 NLT Paul’s Message Comes from Christ
11 Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel message I preach is not based on mere human reasoning. 12 I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ.
13 You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it. 14 I was far ahead of my fellow Jews in my zeal for the traditions of my ancestors.
15 But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him 16 to reveal his Son to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles.
When this happened, I did not rush out to consult with any human being. 17 Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away into Arabia, and later I returned to the city of Damascus.
18 Then three years later I went to Jerusalem to get to know Peter, and I stayed with him for fifteen days. 19 The only other apostle I met at that time was James, the Lord’s brother. 20 I declare before God that what I am writing to you is not a lie.
21 After that visit I went north into the provinces of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And still the churches in Christ that are in Judea didn’t know me personally. 23 All they knew was that people were saying, “The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to destroy!” 24 And they praised God because of me.
Prayer: Lord, help us be still, push away from the noise of life, and sit in our own Arabia, see and experience the desert, and then listen to you and your heart for what we are to accomplish in the Spirit. We often say, “I sure would like to know what God’s has planned for me.” Believers should already know the answer is to lead others to the Truth. Of course, we all have mounting daily responsibilities to which to attend, Lord, but there is time to fulfill the essentials of sharing your love and Word with others who are lost in their understanding of what you actually died to fulfill through us. We cannot just tack on traditions and practices to our lives and call it holy. We must become so hungry for you we are not satisfied unless we are speaking and living in the Truth and sharing it with others. You give fresh manna, Lord, and so we must eat and live. In Jesus’ name. Amen.