Friday November 24, 2023

Galatians 3:3
Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

There are many paths that lead from a promising beginning in the Spirit to a dismal consummation in the flesh.

You made a good beginning. God overcame your old, passionately self-loving ego. You surrendered without condition to God, and your heart was filled with the love of Christ.

You lived for God and your neighbor, following Christ uncompromisingly and fearlessly.

Then a change occurred, during a period of spiritual weakness, perhaps as a consequence of spiritual undernourishment. You began to listen to the tempter’s words: Spare thyself.

Now you discovered many valid reasons for allowing yourself more consideration.

That was all that was necessary. You became solicitous about your own person. You provided minutely for your own comfort, your own advantage, your own enjoyment.

However, now, too, you would be a Christian. Therefore you want to do something for God and for others. But always in such a way that you can make proper allowances for yourself.

It is thus that the pampered and unreal type of Christianity of which there is so much in our day develops, both in city and in country. A passive type of Christianity, without sacrifice, brings the soul neither joy nor sorrow but only that lukewarmness which the Lord spews out of His mouth.

My unhappy friend, would you be healed of this, then take up your cross again, enter into the service of the Lord once more and begin to make sacrifices for Him!

But now do not try to think of something great to do! Begin with lowly forms of service, those in your own home above all. This will bring about a definite break with your old nature every day.

O. Hallesby, God’s Word for Today: A Daily Devotional for the Whole Year, translator Clarence J. Carlsen (Augsburg, 1994)
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.