"This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish,? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?"

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Of course I did not receive the Spirit by acting according to Moses' Law. Paul, what are you saying? Father, I know that whatever I have received from You could not have been because of anything I have done. I believed the story of Your Son's life and death and resurrection, and how His death was a sacrifice in my place. Paul knows that I did not receive the Spirit of Jesus by keeping Moses' Law, I don't even know Moses' Law.

Ohhh... That WAS his point? He is saying that I didn't need Moses before, so I don't need him now. And Paul is saying that he knows that my new life was started by Jesus' Holy Spirit. He is saying that I am somehow trying to go back to my old way of living by "self-improvement" in order to complete what the Spirit started in me.

Father, its a little hard to separate myself from the first century. What Paul was talking about is so clear. Other than the Seventh Day Adventists and some of the Messianics, I am not aware of any organized efforts to revive the error of the Galatians. But I recognize the universality of self-righteousness by personal effort everywhere, perhaps in everyone to some degree, and especially in myself. When Paul says "perfected by the flesh," it is clear that he knows there is no such thing. This is just as impossible as a person receiving the Holy Spirit by being kosher, or wearing a verse-box on their foreheads, or even giving "alms."

I remember that Jesus even said He would reject some of those who preached and did miracles in His name because He did not know them. It was as if they really thought they had become spiritually mature and that the miracles were the proof, and yet Jesus disowned them. Wow, I have never come close to thinking like that have I? What did You say? What I have done is worse? I think I am spiritually mature because of what I "know?" NO, this is too hard. Is this really true? Have I deceived myself as badly as they did? So everytime I look at some other kind of Christian and I express some sort of negative opinion of them, I am really expressing the belief that I have somehow saved myself through my own efforts and study? I really am that conceited, arn't I? I guess I have always sort of known that this pride was inside, but thought I was growing out of it, by ignoring it. So, this has to die. I was just trying to become more spiritual. I did not know that such conceit would actually thrive as long as it changed forms periodically. You have told me this before, and I thought I had dealt with it, but that wasn't really what You wanted. You want to deal with it Yourself. You want to finish the work Your Spirit began in me, without my help. All You need is for me to trust You, and obey You when You make Your will clear to me.

I know that saying "I'm sorry" about all of this is meaningless. You are waiting for my attention. You are waiting for my affection. You are waiting for me to enjoy You, just You, without reference to any of my needs or wants or goals. I can't do this. Sure I can for a few minutes, while it is on my mind, but in a little while, when I am needed for something, or I get busy, my consciousness of You will quickly fade into the background, and I might go through the whole day having basically forgotten You. Will You help me give up trying to be spiritual? Is there something else You want to teach me that You couldn't teach me until I admitted my ongoing failure to be fully Spiritual?

I don't have enough confidence in myself to make any promises, or even to say yes or no to anything right now. But I don't want to keep living the way I have. If there is more to being Spiritual I want to know what it is. If there is a way to know Jesus in a more literal and continual way, would You make it happen for me? I don't want Paul to look at me and say, "I told you so." I want him to say to me, "Good. You got my point and did what needed to be done. I'm so glad to have you back among those who really do live by faith in Jesus, and I am sorry that I called you a fool. You really were not a fool after all."

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Thank You for giving me a few minutes of your time. Paul's Letter to the churches of Galatia is unique. It will take some time to get into Paul's mind, and from there to understand what God has chosen to reveal through the disaster that those congregations were experiencing.
The effect of these Meditations will be cumulative, and the real benefit may have nothing to do with what I have written. I believe that the discipline of having a brief daily conversation with God about the meaning of a variety of Bible passages over a period of a few weeks, even if you come to some very different conclusions, will still be a wonderful and enlightening experience for you. At DeadRight.net, under the Yellow Pages, is some background info about Galatians. If you missed an earlier Meditation, you can still read it at DeadRight.net by going to the homepage, clicking on Newsletter, and clicking on "browse previous newsletters."

Richard