Click Here to Read Galatians 1:11-2:10

I love how Paul himself is a perfect example of the contrast between the bondage of religion and the freedom of God’s grace.  If you don’t know the transformation of Paul, you can read about it in Acts 9.  His name originally was Saul, and he was devoted to the doctrines of Judaism.  Loyal to the traditions of his ancestors, he was advanced in the study of the laws of Judaism to the point of surpassing all his peer scholars. He talks about his mission to destroy God’s church through brutal persecution because of his “radical devotion to the Jewish religion” (Gal. 1:13).  It’s interesting to me that in his zeal to defend God through religious law he wound up opposing God and His will for grace. 

But then God.  Isn’t it just like that too?  How many times does God, in all His goodness and mercy, step in and show us who we’re really meant to be?  I love how Paul says in verse 15 “But then God called me by his grace and in love, he chose me from my birth to be his.”  In that moment that Jesus revealed himself, Paul knew he had a calling on his life.  The Amplified version says that God was “pleased to reveal His Son in me”.  Wow, even with all that he had done to oppose God, yet God was pleased to reveal Jesus in him.  In verses 23-24 Paul mentions that the churches in Judea, though they only knew him by reputation, heard of his transformation “and they were glorifying God (as the Author and Source of what has taken place and all that had been accomplished) in me.” (Gal. 1:24 AMP).  God has set us all apart from birth to be his very own with a calling and a purpose.  Though at some point we’ve all gone astray He calls us back by His grace and it pleases Him to do the work of transformation in us because it brings Him glory.  No matter what we may have become apart from Him, He always only sees who and what we are meant to be.  Isn’t that beautiful?

I also love how Paul makes it clear where he received the revelation of the grace gospel.  Notice that when he was Saul, the Jewish law enforcer, everything was taught to him by man.  He was taught God’s theology according to man’s thoughts, man’s wisdom, man’s limited understanding, and let’s not forget man’s prejudices and pride.  If we could for a moment recall the Pharisees that Jesus encountered.  Well, I’ll just say it.  They were snobs. They were supposed to represent God, yet they looked down on everybody.  Even today how many man-made religions do we have that distort the gospel of grace?  You go in searching to be uplifted, and you come out pushed down and bound by theology and rituals.  But Paul says that the revelation of the grace gospel was given to him “directly by the unveiling of Jesus the Anointed One” (Gal. 1:12).  This revelation of Jesus transformed him so much so that he was given a new name.  Now here he is “preaching the good news of the faith that he was once obsessed with destroying!” (Gal. 1:23). I also have to point out that the name Saul means “significant one” or “sought after”. The name Paul means “little”. That is such a great picture of transformation, not because Paul was insignificant but because it is Jesus in Paul that is such an inspiration to us.

What hope does that give to us?  No matter where we are in life or how far away from where God intends for us to be, we are only one step away from complete transformation.  Look again at Paul’s statement in verse 15: “But then God called me by his grace; and in love he chose me from my birth to be his.”  It is by grace that God calls us to come to Him.  It is by love that He has chosen us from birth to be His.  God created each one of us with a purpose.  And we can be so opposite that purpose and yet He still wants to use us, still wants to clean us up, still wants us for His very own.  It’s us that must make the choice though.  It’s us that has to say, “Okay, I want you.”  But know beloved, he always wants you.

I was reminded of the passage in 1 Samuel 8:6-21 where Israel is demanding that Samuel, the prophet, give them a king to rule over them.  Samuel goes to God and says he doesn’t like what they are asking for, but he doesn’t know what to do.  God tells Samuel, “It isn’t you that they are rejecting, it’s Me.”  God wanted to be their King.  He brought them out of captivity in Egypt and gave them land that was already producing harvest, with houses that were already built and cities that were already fortified.  Sure, they had to go in and battle for it one territory at a time, but He led them in every battle.  He went before them and went with them and they defeated armies one right after the other.  He promised them blessings and provision for generations and all they had to do was live under His leadership.  But they were afraid of God.  I think this is kind of what happens when we see God as a dictator over our lives rather than a loving Father.  God wanted to be the one to give them everything, to partner with them in ruling and reigning over nations.  But they wanted to be like other nations and have a king to lead them and rule over them.  So, Samuel gave them the rundown of what they could expect, basically telling them they would be enslaved to this “king”, but they insisted that was what they wanted.  How often do we do that?  “I know what I want, and nobody can talk me out of it!”  So, God gave them what they wanted.  Well, there were a few good ones but by the time you get through Kings and Chronicles you see that all these kings did was lead Israel further and further away from God.  Yet all along God had a plan of redemption.  King Jesus!

When I decided that I wanted to live a life committed to Jesus and I prayed to ask the Holy Spirit to change me and fix everything I had made a mess of so that my life reflected God’s fingerprint on me, He did.  He changed my heart, He changed my desires, He changed my mind, and He gave me a hunger to know His heart.  He opened up for me a future I never thought I would have and blessed me far beyond what I ever expected.  Not only had He been waiting there at the door for me all this time, He had held on to everything that He tried to give me throughout my life, but I wasn’t ready to receive.  When I opened that door, He didn’t come in empty handed.  He flooded my life in such a way I felt like I had a spotlight on me straight from heaven.  I knew He saw me, He heard me, He knew me.  When I look back at it, I just can’t even entertain any doubt of how much my heavenly Father loves me.  If you don’t know it yet I want to assure you, He wants to be your everything!

In the first part of Chapter 2 Paul mentions that he had gone to meet with the other apostles to share his revelation that this grace gospel was not meant for Jews alone but for Gentiles as well.  Up to the point of Paul’s revelation, the gospel was preached only to Jews.  But it was revealed to Paul that Jesus died for all mankind, of every tribe and tongue, every nation.  Every one of us is precious to Jesus, and it is by His grace and through faith that we are grafted into His kingdom promises.  He always intended it to be this way.  That not one would be left out.  This is the heart of God: that no matter where you come from, what you’ve been through, or where you are right now, God loves you.  He loves you just as you are, just where you are, and He has nothing but good intentions for you.

Let’s pray.

Father, we thank you for King Jesus!  We are so grateful that even when we don’t recognize you in our lives you are always there believing in us.  Even when we are your enemies and opposing your will, you see us fully transformed, you see your perfect creations and out of love you call us back to you.  You don’t recognize our baggage, our past, our stubbornness.  You just look at us through eyes of love and acceptance and you call us your own.  Father, if we haven’t yet experienced a transformation, we pray that through your Holy Spirit you would reveal Jesus to us like you did with Paul.  May we receive revelation directly from Jesus that will set us on the right course.  We know that it pleases you to do the work in us, so we are inviting Jesus in now to be the King in our lives.  Come and transform us, and may it bring glory and honor to your name.  Amen.