God's Transforming Work {Galatians 1}

2:00 PM



I’ve gone back and forth trying to decide if I will write my last post for the year about my own transformation, or something generic – let’s see how this goes.

I just completed a 6 week renewal program through our church.  It resulted because of the sex scandal in the Catholic Church.  It was filled with fighting hope.  And it reminds me of the book of Galatians.  The book of Galatians is Paul’s defense of his ministry and message. The gospel was stolen by false teachers who twisted God’s word and presented a different message as if it was the true gospel. Paul’s righteous anger drives him to write this letter to the churches he planted in Galatia. 1:1-10 set the tone. 1:11-24 continues the defense.

As Christians we are all transformed and because of that, we have a story.  We all come from different backgrounds and began our Christian journey at some point.

In Galatians Paul defends his faith because of the Judaizers.  Paul preached the gospel message he received by God’s revelation – not man’s invention.  That’s the kind of change Jesus creates in the gospel. We become people willing to share our shameful past because of the bright future Jesus has given to us. When God reveals his gospel to us, we become honest about our past and use our story to help others understand God’s story. Only freedom in Christ can create such honesty.

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In our last session in my church renewal study, the road to Emmaus was included.  It’s a little less dramatic than Paul’s conversion.  God moves on your heart in a gradual, incremental way, and looking back you declare, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the scriptures to us?”  Luke 24:32


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Ellen White says, “A person may not be able to tell the exact time or place, or trace all the chains of circumstances in the process of conversion, but this does not prove him to be unconverted.”

My story is ordinary, in my mind.  I grew up attending church and my parents taught me to love and trust God (Deut. 6:4-9 & Ephesians 6:4).  My conversion is not something radical.  It’s not something you can slap a date or place on.  But we only want to hear these radical testimonies.  What seems to happen to the people who have walked the road to Emmaus? 

Let me remind you what happened.  Emmaus was a town near Jerusalem, some people who had been Jesus’ disciples were walking home, three days after Jesus’ death.  They were walking home and Jesus Himself started walking with them.  How often has that happened to you?  We’re walking with Jesus and we’re crying out, “Why aren’t you doing anything?  I don’t see you!  I don’t feel you!”  But He’s right there with us, and He’s teaching us all about who He is.

And then “IT” happens!  There is a moment when Jesus does something, and we recognize Him, and it’s like everything clicks.  We look back at the whole time and we realize we’ve been in the boat.

The road to Emmaus is not a blinding light.  It’s not a slap in the face.  You walk with Jesus and He teaches you about who He is and He helps you understand the thing He’s doing and then brings you to a place where you are capable of understanding.  And your testimony is that you walked with Jesus – He changed you!  He made you a stronger disciple.  He changed the way you approached life.

And here in Galatians, Paul teaches us to fight for that truth.  God changed me.  God changes me.  And last week I wrote about the storms of life and about being in the boat with Jesus through the storm or standing safely on shore with the crowd. 

I’m a fighter.  Most people who know me would probably tell you that I fight for what I believe in and it’s quite difficult to knock me off that track.

Here’s my point.  God saved me.  He hasn’t used me in some world-changing way.  This post isn’t even about me.  It’s about God.  It’s about a series of days, months and years of seeking God.  Knocking at His door.  God answered.  God transformed me.

I’ve had some pretty incredible experiences – God experiences – that I shy away from sharing because so many people don’t believe it.  But the storm I spoke about last week has stirred in me a desire to share ‘my story’.  This storm is because the culture that surrounds us tells us that there’s no need for God.  No, nothing new under the sun.  But this sick warped culture has infected my family who I thought I had carefully placed and protected in God’s care.

I’ll tell you – I walk back and forth to Emmaus every day.  Jesus is walking with me and some days I recognize Him, and other days it takes me a bit longer to see clearly.  But because of that walk, I’m like Paul and I’ll fight for the truth of Christ because He changed me!  And the freedom I have from my relationship of a faith in Christ makes me want to wear my spiritual armor every day and tell my story. 

What’s your transformation story?




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