By Bob Bunn
Like a lot of folks, customer service is a big deal to me. I appreciate home repair companies that give you a straight answer without trying to sell you something extra. I support restaurants that offer good food and friendly staffs. I go to the same mechanic because he doesn’t keep my car forever and cares about getting me back on the road. Obviously, price matters, but I’ll even pay a little extra if I feel good about the service. I stick with people I can count on, people I’ve learned to trust.
Before these believers in Galatia came to Christ, they were lost in a sea of idolatry and false religion (Galatians 4:8). They were enslaved to chunks of rock and metal. They had no clue about who God was or what He had offered to them through His Son.
But once they came to Jesus, everything changed. They finally found something real, something more powerful than the cheap imitations that had dominated their lives. They discovered a God they could trust, since they knew and were known by Him (4:9).
That’s why Paul was so confused about why they had drifted back toward empty rituals and practices. Jewish legalists had convinced the Galatians that salvation required the law, not grace. As a result, they were focusing on good works, not the finished work of Jesus on the cross.
And because he cared about the Galatians, Paul called them out. He challenged them to stick with the One they could trust no matter what.
It’s tempting to shake our heads and point our fingers at the foolish Galatians. It’s easy to think that we’d do better if we had been in their shoes. But the truth is, we can be just as stubborn and just as foolish as they were. We are just as susceptible to the cheap imitations that try to draw us back toward the slavery of sin.
If you’ve accepted Christ as your Savior, you have no reason to turn back to your old way of living. The grace God demonstrated through the death and resurrection of Jesus is all you need to establish and maintain your relationship with Him.
Stick with the One you can trust. Don’t settle for cheap imitations that can never deliver on what they promise.
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