Galatians 5:26
26 Let us [ginomai] not [me] be [ginomai] desirous of
vain glory [kenodoxos], provoking [prokaleomai] one another [allelon],
envying [phthoneo] one another [allelon]. KJV-Interlinear
26 Let us not become boastful,
challenging one another, envying one another. NASB
One of the biggest failures in human personality is
the tendency to become petty, making mountains out of molehills, making huge
issues over little nothings.
Unreasonable expectations, inordinate ambitions, inordinate competitions
lead to gossip and maligning and all manner of social disorder.
Empty glory or vanity, provoking or challenging or bullying,
envy or jealousy, all of these arise out of a weak huge foundation of a dysfunctional
life.
And when society is filled with this type of
behavior, then younger generations become more and more violent, while older
generations with their pettiness can’t figure it out.
With everyone stuck deep in their opinions, truth
is squeezed out and something like insanity becomes the norm, and stupid
becomes reasonable, and reason becomes unreasonable.
Here, the Galatians were arguing over circumcision,
of all things. A nothing topic that should
be obvious to all that it does not apply to all. Something that applies to only one segment of
a population, and in this case men only, cannot possibly be a prerequisite for something
like salvation, which does affect all people, male and female.
Any measure of human works or human good, cannot possibly
be applied fairly and evenly across all peoples, because people have sin
natures and people will inevitably fail at everything sooner or later.
Thus, the Law which Moses put into writing, is not
the textbook of human life or human behavior, but written proof that people
cannot live up to the standards of the Law, and thus need a higher law, namely
Christ, who can obtain perfection in our behalf, because we cannot.
Therefore, faith is the only thing that apples
fairly to all, requiring no human effort, and establishing no human credit for
something that they did not and cannot do.
The only way to avoid this petty behavioral trap is
to obey Gods mandates.
Believe in Christ first, in order to be saved, and
then after salvation, then live your life, for the rest of your life, in fellowship
by means of confession of your sins, and function within your life by means of
doctrine which you must learn through a daily bible study.
