Galatians 4:8-11
“Formerly,
when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not
gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how
can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the
world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and
seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.”
It
is my belief that at no time in the history of the Church have we gone back to the
worship of gods who enslave us, than at this hour in time. The Christian church does not have a fear of
God, not that He will bring curses on us, but a fear that He will withdraw His
blessing. The culture of “I’ll do it my
way,” living independently of the authority of God, has filled the heart of
many in our churches, even those in leadership.
My prayer is as a reader of the Back Porch, that you will grasp what the
Spirit was saying to the Corinthians through the apostle Paul’s pen. For it was not only for them, but also for
you and me: “Examine
yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not
realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you
fail to meet the test!”
Some
questions that may be of help in your examination: Do I seek God, do I look
forward to spending time in the Scripture, do I look forward to seeing God’s
answer to my prayers? Am I becoming
dependent on God, is He who I run to in both good times and bad? Or have good things turned into little gods;
gods that require your time, and have you running to so many events, that you
find no place in your life for the Lord Jesus?
As
one who was in bondage to so many things, I’ve built these major highways in my
mind on how to get my needs met outside of Christ, that is called independent
living, it is illusive, in that few of us would logically choose those
highways. But God, what excitement fills me when I hear
those words, for God loves you and me, we are His kids, but He hates independent
living. That’s why when Jesus left
planet earth to return to His Father, Jesus left the Spirit of Truth to guide
us away from the major highways of self dependence to the narrow road, of
dependence on a big God who wants to free you from the foolishness of those
weak and worthless elementary principles of the world.
Many
of you are consumed with the moral decline of our nation, the destruction of
marriage, the killing of the unborn, the dismantling of the Constitution, and
the moral decline of a nation that was founded on the Scriptures. I am also distressed by these actions, but
when I examined myself, it was apparent it had become a little god, it lead me
to many voices, but not to the only One who can change our outcome. So pray in everything, and make sure you are
listening and desiring the will of God.
From
the Back Porch,
Bob
Rice
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