26 June - Galatians 1

Today we’re starting the book of Galatians, chapter 1, in the Tattoo Church Reading Plan. So far we’ve gone through 9 books of the Bible and most of Genesis together. Let’s jump into Galatians and see what Paul has to say:

1. First, a little background on this book. Galatians was written to a church Paul started in a place called Galatia, the people were called Galatians, hence the name. Galatia was an area in the highlands of central Anatolia in modern Turkey. Most Biblical scholars agree that Galatians was written between the late 40s and early 50s. The main theme Paul is writing about in this book is to answer the question: “Should Gentiles (non-Jews) have to adhere to Jewish traditions and laws when they become a Christian?” 
2. Paul starts this letter by stating his surprise at how quickly they abandoned the freedom in Jesus that he preached to them. They turned from this teaching to a works based religious system. This isn’t that surprising. Everyone is more comfortable with a system where we earn favor with God based on what we do. It’s how the rest of the world works but it’s not how it is with Jesus. We gain acceptance by God only through trusting in Jesus and choosing to follow him.
3. Paul makes it clear that anyone who taught something different from what Jesus taught was not from God. He went on to say that what he preached he received from Jesus himself. 

Isn’t it easy to start living our life thinking if we act “good” God will like us more? As a follower of Jesus we learn that we only gained forgiveness from God because we trusted Jesus. Now as a Christian we do try to live our lives to please God and often that means changing some bad stuff we used to do and starting other acts of love for people. We don’t do those things to gain favor with God. We have already been forgiven and are considered his children. We do these things now because we love God and love other people. Ask God to help you always remember that you can’t earn his love. He gives it freely. If you have more questions about this I love talking to people about it. The idea of grace is astounding. Feel free to email me at Tommy@tattoochurch.com