Am I Rescued or Just Religious?
Connection
Share your highs and lows!
Worship
Song suggestion: Christ be Magnified
Bible
Discussion
Dear Christian, do you know how blessed you are? (v1-9)
Paul urges the Galatians to remember Jesus, their first love, and to recall that first time He was “portrayed as crucified before their very eyes” (v1), before reminding them that all the blessings given them by God were not earned by their works, but were given solely by God, in grace, and received solely by faith.
Spend some time dwelling once again on a moment (perhaps the first moment) when you became utterly captivated by Jesus. Share what it felt like to first know the radical grace of God for yourself.
What are the greatest blessings in your life right now?
Why do you think it is that God gifted you with these things?
What are the things (people/job/relationships/finances/family) which you try to take credit for rather than giving thanks to God?
Dear Christian, have you lost sight of Jesus? (v10-14)
If it is true that we have been given “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 1) and that God has held nothing back from you, then the reason for us not living in the felt reality of God’s blessings in not Him withdrawing from us, but rather that we lose sight of Him, and instead look at ourselves.
What standard do you hold yourself to in your spiritual life (church attendance, bible reading, prayer, giving etc)?
Do you meet this standard? Do you beat yourself up when you miss this standard?
Where are the moments in life that you try to prove to God that you are doing better than you are, in the hope of attaining some secret, hidden blessing from Him?
The standard of God is complete and utter moral perfection before God’s law, but praise be to God that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us!” (v13) We live most free when our eyes are completely fixed on Jesus, and all the blessings He has won for us.
Is Jesus front and centre in your mind? What is clouding your view of Him? Is it that, as Paul suggests, you are relying on your works rather than on His grace, as received by faith?
Prayer
Pray that your eyes would be lifted upwards and outwards onto God rather than downwards and inwards onto yourself. Ask the Holy Spirit to magnify Jesus in your mind, that you would become aware of the fullness of His grace and the fullness of the blessings He has won for you.