You're surrounded by forces that want to steal your freedom in Christ. Be strengthened by His Word!
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Galatians 4 Summary
Chapter four opens with a comparison of Christians to wealthy boys in ancient Rome who grew up under the care of a strict guardian, who treated these boys like slaves in order to build their character. Then at the appointed time, the grown boy would be released from the guardian and begin to exercise freedom over himself and the estate.
In the same way, God's people used to be under the strict guardianship of the Old Testament law. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son... so that we might receive adoption as sons (v4-5).
Yet these Galatian Christians display the universal tendency to want to conform to societal pressure. In their case, this pressure came from Jewish Christians forcing them to follow obsolete rules & regulations.
The purpose of this letter is to remind Christians (then & now) to stand strong in the freedom Christ has given to us, His sons.
Dig Deeper
They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them (v17).
You likely won't face much pressure to conform to obscure Old Testament laws, but you certainly will be pressured. Unfortunately, this pressure will come both from inside and outside of the church.
So whether it's pressure to not eat certain foods like it was then, or to conform to various political or social agendas like it can be today, the message of Galatians remains the same:
Your salvation does not depend upon your own external displays of fickle 'righteousness.' Rather you have been set free to serve God as one made fully acceptable because of the perfect righteousness given to you by Christ.
AAA Prayer:
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: God is your loving Father who knows you (v9)
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will follow the Spirit's leading, and not the 'forces of this world' (v3).
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
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