Pastor Fred continue our series by preaching from Galatians 4:1-20 this weekend. One of the things that hit me kind of hard is that everything has a tax or a cost. It reminded me of a famous quote from the movie Top Gun which is “does our ego writes cheques that our bodies can’t cash?” Or the even scarier realization that does our ego write cheques that our soul can’t cash. To put it plainly, evert word action or inaction comes with a price. Does our ego get in the way and either think that the cost either not that high or we are going to benefits outweigh the cost? I pray that when we speak and act that we count the cost of doing or saying it.
Another observation is that we all are a slave to something. The basic concept is whether we are a slave to sin or a slave to Godliness. When something enslaves us, it can be the only thing we think about and it even consumes us. Some people would call this an addiction. We just finished up the state high school hockey tournament for Minnesota tonight. At one time tonight there were 2,200 people waiting hoping for a ticket to get into tonight’s championship game and Grand Casino Arena holds over 18,000 people and this is where the game is played. Now there is nothing wrong with wanting to catch the game, especially if you are a fan of one of the teams, but if your day, week, or year is ruined because you couldn’t watch the game in person, or you place hockey over God, there is a problem. I challenge each one of us not only to be a slave to righteousness, but also a child of God. It is taking Gods free gift and accepting it knowing that we can’t do anything to earn it. It’s about God being the center of our attention. So what are the things that prevents us from keeping God at the center of our lives?
My final observation is how well do we hear bad news or correction? When we hear these things we often become defensive and often shut the other person out. When we are being corrected, how often do we try and justify our behavior, even if we know we are in the wrong? We often care more about forming a response to the correction than understanding what the other person is trying to say. I know I’m not the only person who hates to be corrected because it feels like I have been gut punched. So when these opportunities of growth come our way, don’t be afraid to listen, ask questions to clarify and lean on other people of God to see if they see the same thing and ask for accountability. Do not forget to show grace to the person sharing the difficult truth and to yourself.
I will close with this, when receiving some difficult news or a hard truth, practice Psalm 19:14 in which we are examining the words of or hearts and what we meditate on. It is so that they can be pleasing to God. It is going to those dark and scary places of our lives and not only repenting, but to give it over to God. Also, according to Socrates, the unexamined life is not worth living
Grace and Peace
Tom Boustead
