Thought from today’s Bible reading from Galatians 1-3.
When Paul obeyed the gospel and went from being an enemy of Christ to being an apostle of Christ, we might expect that he would have gone and met with the other apostles for encouragement, support, and help as he began his work for the Lord. Yet he told the Galatians that this is not what happened.
“I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus. Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and stayed with him fifteen days. But I did not see any other of the apostles, except James, the Lord’s brother” (Galatians 1:16-19).
Paul did not need to seek out the apostles immediately after his conversion to get some sort of validation from them. He had been given a mission from the Lord, and he simply got busy doing it.
After fourteen years, Paul returned to Jerusalem – not by his own decision, but by the will of the Lord (Galatians 2:1-2). While there, he “submitted to them the gospel which [he preached] among the Gentiles.” He had not done this before because his preaching was done to please God, not man (Galatians 1:10).
In the end, Paul wrote, “But from those who were of high reputation (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me” (Galatians 2:6). Though the apostles would give him “the right hand of fellowship” (Galatians 2:9), showing support for his efforts, Paul demonstrated that he was able to teach the truth of the gospel without having to rely on the support and agreement of others.
The lesson for us is that we should not have to rely upon anyone in order to do what is right and serve the Lord to the best of our abilities. Even those who are generally respected in the brotherhood are not essential for you to do what you ought to do. Yes, we can gain encouragement and support from others. But we must be willing and able to serve the Lord in whatever capacity we can regardless of whether any encouragement or support from others exists.
If we have the Lord on our side, that is sufficient (Romans 8:31; Philippians 4:13).
Tomorrow’s reading: Galatians 4-6
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.
