ADORATION – Reflect on God’s Greatness
GOD IS INFINITE – God is limitless. God is not limited by anything outside of His character. This applies to all of God’s attributes.
Psalm 36:6
Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep. You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.
Praise God because He is Infinite in Justice.
God is infinitely just. The Psalmist said his justice is like the great deep or like the ocean. He always always acts justly. He will never be too tired for Justice and his justice like the great deep extends to all people everywhere for all of time. Praise God because he is always just. You can trust and rely on his judgements.
CONFESSION: Confess your sins to God and receive his continued mercy.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
THANKSGIVING: Giving thanks to God for his specific blessings in our lives.
“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” Psalm 100
SUPPLICATION: Bringing our requests to God.
- Bring your personal prayer requests to God.
- Pray for the lost in our city and in your life. Ask God for opportunities to have gospel conversations.
- Ask God to speak as you read and meditate.
SCRIPTURE READING:
Galatians 1 The Message
I, Paul, and my companions in faith here, send greetings to the Galatian churches. My authority for writing to you does not come from any popular vote of the people, nor does it come through the appointment of some human higher-up. It comes directly from Jesus the Messiah and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. I’m God-commissioned. So I greet you with the great words, grace and peace! We know the meaning of those words because Jesus Christ rescued us from this evil world we’re in by offering himself as a sacrifice for our sins. God’s plan is that we all experience that rescue. Glory to God forever! Oh, yes!
The Message
6-9 I can’t believe how you waver—how easily you have turned traitor to him who called you by the grace of Christ by embracing an alternative message! It is not a minor variation, you know; it is completely other, an alien message, a no-message, a lie about God. Those who are provoking this agitation among you are turning the Message of Christ on its head. Let me be blunt: If one of us—even if an angel from heaven!—were to preach something other than what we preached originally, let him be cursed. I said it once; I’ll say it again: If anyone, regardless of reputation or credentials, preaches something other than what you received originally, let him be cursed.
10-12 Do you think I speak this strongly in order to manipulate crowds? Or court favor with God? Or get popular applause? If my goal was popularity, I wouldn’t bother being Christ’s slave. Know this—I am most emphatic here, friends—this great Message I delivered to you is not mere human optimism. I didn’t receive it through the traditions, and I wasn’t taught it in some school. I got it straight from God, received the Message directly from Jesus Christ.
13-16 I’m sure that you’ve heard the story of my earlier life when I lived in the Jewish way. In those days I went all out in persecuting God’s church. I was systematically destroying it. I was so enthusiastic about the traditions of my ancestors that I advanced head and shoulders above my peers in my career. Even then God had his eye on me. Why, when I was still in my mother’s womb he chose and called me out of sheer generosity! Now he has intervened and revealed his Son to me so that I might joyfully tell non-Jews about him.
16-20 Immediately after my calling—without consulting anyone around me and without going up to Jerusalem to confer with those who were apostles long before I was—I got away to Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus, but it was three years before I went up to Jerusalem to compare stories with Peter. I was there only fifteen days—but what days they were! Except for our Master’s brother James, I saw no other apostles. (I’m telling you the absolute truth in this.)
21-24 Then I began my ministry in the regions of Syria and Cilicia. After all that time and activity I was still unknown by face among the Christian churches in Judea. There was only this report: “That man who once persecuted us is now preaching the very message he used to try to destroy.” Their response was to recognize and worship God because of me!
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION:
“Be of one mind” is also translated “Agree with one another.” This doesn’t mean that our goal is to all see everything the same way. That is a foolish, and unattainable goal. The goal is to see each other the way Christ does. To be of one mind on what the main thing is. Truth matters, what we believe to be important cannot just be casually dismissed because we want to “be of one mind.” The point of unity here is our common love for Christ. We agree to make the main thing the main thing. Jesus said the main thing is to love God with our full heart, soul, mind and strength and to love each other as we love ourselves. Be of one mind on that main thing and the differences on the minor things will have less impact on your life. You will be positioned to learn and understand and stay in relationship with people you disagree with. This is uncommon, but it is certainly possible for the one who follows Christ.