Sent

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE GALATIANS

SENT

Gal 1:1-2

1:1 Paul, an apostle — sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers with me,

To the churches in Galatia:

NIV

Is Paul the only person who has even been sent by Jesus Christ? And why was he sent? What was the purpose Jesus sent him? How did he know Jesus sent him? Although it is true Jesus after his resurrection and ascension appeared to Paul as a bright light temporarily blinding Paul and spoke to him, which caused Paul’s, whose name was Saul at that time, conversion. But he never knew Jesus as a man, or heard any of his teachings or was instructed in any of the ways of the truth if the message of salvation. Actually Paul, as Saul, was a persecutor of those who followed Jesus. Now, he is claiming Jesus sent him on this journey into Galatia and now is writing them this letter. That should mean we too should live as Jesus has sent us, for that is indeed what he has done. We are not just born and live our lives however we want, do whatever suits our fancy, go wherever we desire and one day die. There has to be more to life than simply going about our daily living. Life as a believer is not just incorporating Jesus into our lives. It is about living for Jesus, doing what he calls us to do, living where he calls us to live, working where he calls us to work, for we have been sent. If he has a plan for our lives, and he does, then we should be about obeying that plan. Because Paul was not sent from men nor by man, then why should we be any different. We are men or people and thus we should not be sending ourselves. We should not be living according to our own plans, doing what we planned, going where we planned and living where we planned. Do we only believe in God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for our salvation and everything else is up to us? No, we have to believe we too have been sent to where Jesus has directed us to. He is a lamp unto our feet. He is light onto our path. Where he leads we will follow. So Paul, after having been with these Galatians, having taught them the truth, finds out others have come to distract them from the truth, so he writes this letter to reaffirm what he taught them and discredit those who are disseminating an erroneous or false message. Should we not be concerned as well about false teaching? But then, with so many differing interpretations, causing so many different denominations, who is to say who has the truth and who has false teaching? Does anything other than the message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ matter? Does all the fluff and puff, the little differences matter? Salvation is through faith and faith alone. There is no work, no deeds, and no set of rules or regulations, no lists of do’s and don’ts which make any headway in our salvation. This is what we are going to continue to discover as we make our way through this letter of Paul to the Galatians. Still, it is a good journey to discover all the nuisances within this letter which lead us to faith, both in Jesus and that we have been sent.