7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?
Consider with the the context for this verse. Paul’s previous verse reads, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncirucumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.”
So, in essence, these people refused the concepts of faith and love, and, in the place of faith and love, substituted a list of regulations and a ritual act.
Now, concerning the original act recorded in Genesis, lest we forget, Abraham was made pleasing and righteous to the Father through his faith (Genesis 15:1-6) BEFORE G-d commanded circumcision of Abraham and his family, as a sign of Abraham’s faith (Genesis 17:1-14).
Circumcision was merely a symbol of his faith. But for the believers in Galatia, they were subordinating the first commandment—namely, to love—to a ritual act that had little bearing on their standing before the Father, and did nothing to increase their faith. The act of circumcision, like the act of baptism, is a sign, but these acts are not what saves you. Rather godly sorrow, that leads us to repentence, and is followed by rejection of our previous sinful lifestyle, and acceptance of Jesus as the sacrifice for our sins, followed by a life of faith that expresses itself in love towards God and man is what counts. The repentance and rejection of our old life followed by a commtiment to faith in Christ for the salvation, and the expressive life of faith and love for the sanctification.
In Verse 7 Paul does recognize that the Galatians did have a season where they ran well. The addition of new rules and regulations to faith and love is setting a hindrance in front of them.
This thing called a walk of faith is not a difficult thing to engage in. The walk of following Christ is quite simple. Now, is it easy? No. It rarely is easy. But simple and easy are not the same thing. Faith in Christ is simple in that we are plainly told what must be done to become a follower of Christ. Faith in Christ is not easy in that once we believe, we have made ourselves and enemy to the devil and his hordes. We will face testings and difficult seasons in life as a direct result of following Christ. There is a cost to following him and you have to be all-in. But, once you are all-in and following him, there are rewards that cannot be quantified, and there is an enriching of your life that takes place.
Unfortunately, this means you will have to lay aside those things that will hinder you from obeying the truth, and hinder you from engaging in a deep relationship with Christ. You might have to give us some friendships that hold you back. You might have to stop engaging in some activities. You might face rejection from your family and old friends. You might have to give us some habits and lifestyle patterns that you really enjoyed before you became a believer.
You might have to change jobs, cities, states, or nations or residence.
The cost is different from one believer to another.
But it is a cost that is worth considering and counting.
Whatever is hindering you from following Christ more deeply is usually the thing that he puts his finger on.
Now, I understand this is not an easy thing to hear. I understand that you are probably thinking, “yes he is putting his finger on this or that”, and you don’t need a pastor or leader or mature believer to tell you that this or that thing is hindering you. But following Christ is both simple and not easy. It also is rarely convenient. He has a habit of interrupting what you thought was the right thing and telling you more than you want to hear.
And like a friend or a spouse, he has things to tell you that he isn’t going to tell anyone else. He also has a beautiful purpose, a birthright for each and every one of us.
Let me hit that one and hit it hard.
You have a birthright.
A birthright is that unique problem that you were designed to solve and put on this earth to solve or fix.
And, a birthright brings with it a unique set of resources that the Lord gives you at your disposal in order to solve that problem.
Like Jacob, there is something big you were called to possess and walk in.
And Jacob, who possessed much of what he was called to possess, lost out on major portions of his birthright because he left Bethel.
God had told him to DWELL in Bethel, and stop moving around, and what did Jacob do? He went to Bethel, had a small worship service and left there. And from the moment he left Bethel, you see a negative progression (Genesis 35:16). Rachel, his beloved wife died. The debacle with Joseph and the friction among the sons. Reuben’s defiling of Jacob’s bed with Jacob’s concubine. A major destruction happened, because Jacob chose a lifestyle that hindered him from obeying what God said. So much so that when he stood before Pharaoh, he said “few have been my years and full of trouble”.
Now, we often celebrate Jacob for the birth of the nation that he was involved in, but we often times don’t see the effects of his disobedience where Bethel is concerned on the rest of his life.
So, I would ask you the same question, follower of Christ. What is hindering you from obeying the truth?
