...After
beginning with Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?... so
that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit... Gal 3:3-14.
One fine day in 1859, Charles Blondin, the
famous tight rope walker traveled to Niagara Falls. He stretched a three-inch
wire over the gorge. There on this wire, he walked 1100 feet from one side to
the other. He did this a number of times: blindfolded, in a sack, pushing a
wheelbarrow, on stilts, sitting down midway while he cooked and ate an omelet
and standing on a chair with only one chair leg on the rope. But that’s not
all. He also carried a man on his back over that tightrope. This must be one of
the best examples of trust ever placed by one human in another. It’s either
brave or stupid. Blondin carried his manager Harry Colcord on his back from one
side of the Falls to the other. Imagine if halfway across Harry had said to
Blondin, “Look, I appreciate that you’ve taken me this far, but I really don’t
trust you anymore. I think I’ll do the rest myself. Let me down, and I’ll take
it from here.” Can you imagine? He’d be a dead Harry from that point on. Having
been carried that far, why in the world would he think that he could get the
rest of the way across by himself? It sounds ridiculous.
Paul addresses a
similar kind of situation in this passage. Paul evangelized the
cities of Iconium, Lystra and Derbe of Galatian province during his first missionary
journey. The Judaizers had infiltrated the churches in Galatia and taught that
believers needed to follow Jewish religious requirements for their salvation. Galatians
seemed to have accepted the false teachers and had abandoned the faith that Paul
has taught them. Paul rebukes and admonishes the Galatians to turn back to the
faith they were taught. John Piper puts it this way, “The
essence of the Galatian heresy is the teaching that you begin the Christian
life by faith, and then you grow in the Christian life by works, that is, by
drawing on powers in yourself to make your contribution to salvation.” We have started
our Christian journey by Faith, when we received his salvation. But some
eventually started depending upon own strength. If we try to live the Christian
life by our own strength, we’ll only end up being condemned. We’ll never
measure up. Christian life is no easier than a ride on a rope. There is always
a chance to falter when tried with one’s own strength. We shall sustain only
when we cling on to the master.
Are you frustrated by the lack of progress
that you see in your own life? Do you ever feel disappointed with yourself? Do
you ever find yourself not living up to your own good Christian intentions? Here’s
the key. Stop trying to improve yourself. The way you grow is the same as the
way you became a Christian. It is by having the same unswerving faith all the
way upon the ever reliable God, who promises to carry you all the way.
May God help us to have the starting faith all
the way…..Amen.
Blessings
Daniel Solomon Raju
