Daily Devotion May 10

May 10: Galatians 2:1-10

KJV Key Verse: Galatians 2:2
2 And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privatelyto them which were of reputation , lest by any means I should run , or had run , in vain.

Devotion:
Paul was doing his best to take the true Gospel message out to both the Jews and the gentiles, not favouring one or the other but allowing all to be open to the truth. He trusted the Holy Spirit to guide him and tell him where he should be preaching – because God knows best the people who most need the Gospel message. Where the Holy Spirit send us and where we want to go may not be the same place; in fact we may not like the place He sends us at all!

Submitting to God’s will in our lives can be daunting and can be harrowing. Imagine being told to go to the one place that you absolutely don’t want to go near! Jonah was asked to go to Nineveh and preach to the people he disliked, so there is nothing new in God asking us to go where we are needed! Paul did test the waters in that he would not plunge in and see what happened but rather tested out talking to some in private in case he had not heard God correctly. There is nothing wrong in making sure we are hearing God correctly, but we do need to trust Him!

Paul was not trying to get everyone to be the same by getting them all to become Jews and do everything according to Jewish laws and traditions. What he was trying to do was to give them all the same Gospel message, the same truth, the same Word of God and allow them to draw their own conclusions about their own lives. God did not create us all to be the same but that we could all be different and still worship the same God.

God does not show personal favouritism to anyone. He does not judge according to colour, race or position in society. What God does do is to treat all according to God’s law. We are created different and we should work to the best of our own abilities and capabilities. In this case the apostles decided it would be best for them to teach the Jews and for Paul to teach the Gentiles. This is God giving direction so they could be used to their fullest advantage. Trust God, test what you think you hear against what God tells us in the bible. Trust your final judgement to God.

Points to Ponder:
Do you listen to people?

Does God agree?