Galatians 5:7

Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians while under great stress. False teachers and critics had arisen in the church who were questioning his ministry. Some were even questioning the gospel itself. The Galatian church had backslidden, and in this passage Paul is making one last appeal to them.

The Galatians had been doing so well. When they heard the gospel, they:

• Believed – They believed that He loved them and died for their sins.
• After believing – They lived clean and pure lives bearing testimony for Christ.
• They had been serving Him and worshipping Him with great zeal. They had not been “Sunday only Christians.”

But something happened that hindered them running their Christian race.

Looking Back

We just said goodbye to the year 2021. Do you remember when New Year’s came around in 2021? Do you remember making any resolutions? How’d that go? Probably not so good for most of us.

If we expect anything to change for us as we try again, we need to figure out why we failed last year. If you think just going from 11:59pm on December 31st to 12:00am on January 1st is going to make some magical change, you’re wrong. You need to examine what caused you to stumble (what hindered you).

Now look back at the beginning of 2021. Look at where your relationship with God was. In January 2021, think about how much you prayed, how much you read your Bible, how often you were coming to church (yes… that’s important).

By December 31st, how had that changed? Do you pray more or less? Do you read your Bible more or less? Are you coming to church more or less often?

Is your overall relationship with God stronger? If it’s not, what hindered you from getting closer to God? Before you can get closer to God, you need to look at what’s kept you from getting closer already.