Begin with two minutes of stillness and silence before God.

As we read yesterday, Paul is concerned that the Gospel was being diluted with "good old religion" in the churches of Galatia. The was like, "This Gospel of complete and total reconciliation through Jesus, the Son of God, is great BUT, let’s add in a few rules you must follow. These rules, by the way, do nothing to draw you closer to God or help you show one fellow beggar where you found bread."

Paul started his letter making sure the readers understood who sent him. In the second part of this chapter, Paul defends his ministry by saying, “Do you think I am striving to please men or God?  If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.”  Boy does that still ring true.  I think verse 10 bridges the gap between “who sent me” and “why I do what I do.”  Paul wrote this about 45 or so years after Christ was crucified.  Do you think he would be a popular celebrity figure preaching about a guy who had been executed?  He was much more popular living his old life of zealous persecution of Christians.    
I love what Paul does here in the next few verses because he knows they know him.  So he takes a page from an attorney’s playbook and argues his defense. 

• Argument #1: Verse 11-12.  “…the Gospel preached by me is not according to man.  For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ”. Revelation is an understatement.  How about the original “Blinded by the Light”? No, Paul was not “Revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night”. He was knocked off his feet, blinded, spoken to by God, and “through His grace was pleased to reveal His Son in me”. Besides being an incredible story of how God can work in one’s life, has there ever been anyone less worthy to receive such a gift from God?  Paul was so unworthy just like me and you. Thankfully, God sees what we can be when we accept and embrace the gift of the Gospel. He sees the new creation.  
  
• Argument #2: Verse 13.  “You have heard of my former manner. How I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.”  If he wanted to be popular and seek the approval of men, he could've just stuck with the crowd. He goes on to remind them that if they want to debate the edicts of the Torah, then he is their man.  He excelled in religion.  He was the poster child for keeping the rules.  No one was more zealous, as he states, “for my ancestral traditions”. Paul's pretty much saying, "Don’t test me. I am more religious than any of you."
  

There was a new 3rd grade Sunday School teacher who was excited about the new year.  She asked her class, “Who do we celebrate at Christmas?”  One little boy raised his hand and said, “Santa Clause!”  “No”, the teacher said.  “It is Jesus”. Trying to set the tone for the year, she then asked, “Who do we celebrate at Easter?”  Another little boy immediately answered, “The Easter bunny!” “No”, the teacher said.  “It is Jesus." Feeling like she was losing the crowd, she decided she'd better throw them a softball.  She asked, “What is grey, has a furry tail, and lives in a tree?”  One of the boys looked at the other one and said, “It sounds like a squirrel but I’m going to say, Jesus”.  

When the world comes at you, and it will, Jesus is the right answer.

Take two minutes to reflect in silence.

Reflection:

• What verse comes to your mind when you are faced with defending the Gospel?
• Who can you share that with today? 
• To continue studying the book of Galatians, head over to the Unschooled & Ordinary podcast, where the podcast team begins to unpack the Book of Galatians in the episode, "5 | Galatians."
• Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, help me to have courage in the face of the questions and doubts of people who don't know You yet. Create opportunities for me to share the Gospel with someone this week. In Jesus' name, Amen.