Lenten Devotion – The Importance of a Personal Relationship with Christ
Day 6, 20 February 2024
“But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?” Galatians 4:9
You could almost feel the exasperation of Paul in this passage as he writes about how the Galatians believers, having tasted the wonderful message of faith in Christ, are now going back in their old ways of works because of false teachers and their teachings.
Falling away from God, always starts with a small beginning.
It could start by missing out on just one Sunday service or one cell group meeting. Then over time the absences increase and without realising it, we are now quite comfortable with our falling out, though we don’t necessarily call it that (many times we attribute it to ‘being busy with other things’).
The real crux of the matter about falling out has to do with our own individual relationship with God, or, the lack of one. If we are honest, sometimes we just tagged along for services or cell group meetings as we have friends there and enjoy the fellowship. Or it could be for religious purposes that we make ourselves regular in order to fulfil our religious need of being in God’s house once a week.
Religious needs, friendships, fellowships and such, are very feeble and weak reasons to going to church meetings and services or even being the reason why we are Christians. The Galatian believers were falling away from the Truth of God’s word that Paul and his team spent time teaching and living out before them.
What I believe happened to these Galatian believers was that, they did not do much or anything at all to grow in their own individual relationships with God. They depended on outside sources to help them grow in the Lord.
And eventually, the outside sources of false teachings and the lure of the world enticed them and they began to fall away.
I am not saying that we don’t need to be discipled or that we don’t need solid teaching, no, we need all and more of them.
However, if we don’t pursue individually, a relationship with The Lord and be able to hear His Voice and grow in our understanding of the Word of God and treasure daily devotions alone with Him, we are not building ourselves on the Rock.
Ps Edward🙏