Galatians 4:14
14 And [kai] my [mou] temptation [peirasmos]
which was in [en] my [mou] flesh [sarx] ye despised [exoutheneo] not [ou], nor [oude] rejected [ekptuo]; but [alla] received [dechomai] me [me] as [hos] an angel [aggelos] of God [theos], even as [hos] Christ [Christos] Jesus [Iesous]. KJV-Interlinear
14 and that which was a trial to
you in my bodily condition you did not despise or loathe, but you received me
as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself. NASB
The rain falls on the just and the unjust. And of
course here I am referring to the many difficulties of life that we all face
from time to time.
Paul had visited the Galatians on a prior occasion,
and during that visit he was apparently sick. And so sick to such an extent,
that his very appearance was more than repulsive and sickening to anyone that
could see him or be near him.
And as we saw in our study from yesterday, Paul is
pointing out his illness so as to make it very clear to the Galatians, and even
to you and me, that they and we, have all heard the truth at some point in our
life, and we are all aware of the truth, such that we have no excuse when, of
our own free will and choice, we choose to ignore it, disregard it, maintain
and indifference toward it, and otherwise choose an easier or more convenient
course for our life.
Paul does not describe his illness. He merely
refers to it as a temptation in his flesh. This is a descriptive phrase of a
pretty bad sickness, one that is offensive and repulsive and disgusting. And a
sickness that no one in their right mind would want to be around.
But, the message of Paul, which is the gospel of
Christ and doctrine, far outweighs the disgusting nature of his illness, or any
difficult state in which a person might find himself.
Just because you have believed in Christ, does not
exempt you or exclude you from the problems of this world.
Just because you have believed in Christ, and perhaps
have even advanced in your spiritual life, does not exclude you or exempt you
from becoming sick or injured or even financially destitute in this life.
The Bible is not here to guarantee you a perfect
life in this world. Right now this is the devils world, and as such we are all
subject to its many flaws and pitfalls. Bible doctrine is here to prepare us
for the next life, which by the way is eternal, and not limited in any way, as
this life is limited.
God is not a genie, so don’t approach your Bible
study by rubbing your Bible as you would a genie bottle. Wishes are not on the
agenda. Spiritual growth and spiritual preparation are the objective.
The Galatians received Paul as an angel, as a
messenger, because the message he brought was far more important than his
personal appearance or circumstance.
Many people judge life in a superficial fashion.
They want everything perfect, and have little tolerance for what they consider
imperfect.
But often times God places little challenges, or
little tests in front of us, in order to determine the legitimacy of our
spiritual state.
And so God places in front of us things that don’t
go well, things that don’t work well, people who don’t behave in a the way you
expect them to behave. Some of the parables of Christ even address some of these
issues.
Perhaps you have purchased something that is
imperfect. Do you get angry?
Perhaps someone owes you money. Do you get angry?
Perhaps life is not going the way you want it to go.
Do you get angry?
Perhaps people do not behave in a manner in which
you expect them to behave. Do you get
angry?
Are you impatient, easily offended, lacking a sense
of humor, intolerant of others?
Do you see the errors in others and never in
yourself?
One of the results of advancing in your spiritual
life, and there are many results, is that you learn to relax in life, and not
take life too seriously, such that you lose sight of why God put you on this
earth, and of who is really taking care of you and the situations in your life.
Are your money or things or relationships or personal
standards more important than your eternal preparation?
Would you destroy others, to justify yourself or to
prove that you are right?
Your life does not depend on the degree of
perfection in things, or on your expectations from people, nor on what you own to
want to own or feel that you should own.
If you have a tendency to be too critical or too
unforgiving, then you are not truly oriented properly to life. And you can
really expect God to place many unfair things in front of you until the light
bulb comes on in your head, or until you just totally fail.
Paul’s prior visit gave everyone the opportunity to
be repulsed, and shallow, and opinionated, and critical, and superficial. And
there probably were many who rejected Paul because of those things.
At some point in time you have to decide what’s
more important to you in life, the very fabric of truth from Gods point of
view, or your feelings from unreasonable expectations and the many details of life
that you have decided are more important.
