Daily Devotionals

“For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem
which now is, and is in bondage with her children –
but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all”
– Galatians 4:25-26 –

Paul always gave contrasts to illustrate and record the truth in a better way; thus, he presented the two sons. Ishmael represents the physical birth, by which we are sinners; Isaac, the spiritual birth, by which we become children of God.

Isaac was born by the power of God; the beliver is born by the Spirit. Isaac came into the world through grace and faith, which represents Abraham and Sarah. Every believer becomes a child of God by the grace received through faith. Isaac brought joy, just as salvation is a joyful experience for the believer.

Ishmael represents the carnal nature and caused problems for Isaac, who represents our spiritual nature. Abraham’s home illustrates to us the same problems that existed in Galatia and that we can face today.

Hagar, confronted by Sarah, illustrates the conflict between law and grace. Are we saved by obeying the law or by accepting the Lord’s grace? The confrontation between Ishmael and Isaac illustrates the struggle between the carnal nature and the spiritual nature, living according to the flesh of our humanity or according to the Spirit of God’s will.

Paul also explained the meaning of the two women, Sarah and Hagar, in order to show the contrast between the law and grace. God did not start with Hagar, but with Sarah. In relation to how He treats people, God also begins with grace.

When Adam and Eve sinned, God did not give them laws to obey. In His grace, He gave them robes to cover themselves and the promise of a Redeemer. When He freed the people from Egypt, it was first the grace of liberation; then came the law.

Hagar was a slave, but Sarah was free. We have already said that the function of the law is to reveal our sins and be the tutor that leads us to Christ. The union of Abraham and Hagar was contrary to God’s will. It was the consequence of Sarah’s and Abraham’s unbelief and impatience.

“Abraham had accepted without question the promise of a son,
but he did not wait for God to fulfill His word in His own time and way.
A delay was permitted, to test his faith in the power of God;
but he failed to endure the trial” (Patriarch and Prophets, p. 145).

How is your faith today? Does it stand the test when tested? God bless you…

“For it is written that Abraham had two sons:
the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman.
But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh,
and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic.
– Galatians 4:22-24 –

Through an allegory, Paul wanted to explain or illustrate the condition of the spiritual slavery of the Galatians. An allegory is a narrative in which people, things, and facts have a metaphorical or symbolic meaning. The historical facts were real, but the application was allegorical.

Let us look briefly at the historical facts reported in Genesis 12 to 21 by using tha age of Abraham as a reference.

When Abraham was seventy-five, he was called by God to go to Canaan, and God promised him many descendants. Abraham and Sarah wanted children, but Sarah was barren.

At eighty-five years of age, it felt like the promise was delayed, and Sarah became impatient and suggested to Abraham that he have a child through Hagar, their slave. This was legal in that society, but it was not God’s will; however, Abraham accepted and took Hagar as his wife.

When Abraham was eighty-six, Hagar became pregnant, and Sarah became enraged. Result: the latter made life so difficult for the first one that she was forced to flee. However, the Lord intervened by having Hagar return. Thus, the child was born; he was called Ishmael.

When Abraham was ninety-nine, God reiterated His promise to Abraham and Sarah and told them to call their son Isaac.

The son of the promise was born when Abraham was one hundred years old, and they called him Isaac (“laughter”). This was going to create a problem of rivalry with the other son, Ishmael (who was already fourteen years old); this problem continues even to this day through descendants.

When Abraham was 103, Isaac (three years old) was weaned and they had a party to celebrate. Since Ishmael mocked his half-brother, both he and Hagar left the house.

Paul drew spiritual lessons of faith and freedom from historical facts that were in opposition to works and to slavery. Sarah represents a covenant of faith from a promise; Hagar represents the covenant of works. Abraham and Sarah wanted to “help” God; the root of the delay lay in the fulfillment of the promise and their own impossibility, her age and infertility.

Abraham tried to carry out God’s plan through Hagar and her son Ishmael. That was his way of doing it, but not God’s. It is not God’s plan that man’s salvation be attained through the works of the law for the simple reason that it is impossible to do so. Paul showed that as long as man relies on the works of the law to save himself, he cannot escape slavery.

The great lesson we learn is that things
always have to be done in God’s way, not ours.

Be patient, He keeps all His promises. Have faith in Him…

“Even so we, when we we were children,
were in bondage under the elements of the world”
– Galatians 4:3 –

We are children of God through faith in Christ, born into God’s family with all rights. When sinners are saved, they are like newborn children who need to grow, but regarding their position, they are sons and daughters with all their rights. The gateway to adoption is conversion.

In the Roman Empire, children of the weathly were cared for by slaves and were educated under the supervision of a servant. Children were not very different from the servants who cared for them. The servants received orders from the owner, and the children received orders from the servant.

Ancient religions were dying, and ancient ohilosophies were empty and powerless. Strange new religions were invading the Empire. Spiritual hunger reigned everywhere. God was preparing the world for the arrival of His Son.

The birth of Christ was not accidental, but was designed by God. Christ came in the “fullness of time” (Gal. 4:4), and will also come a second time at the right time (see Eph. 1:10). The Lord did not buy us through His sacrifice for us to become slaves, but to be children with all rights. The Father sent the Son, the Son died for us, and He sent us the Holy Spirit to live in us.

The contrast here is not between children and adult children, but between slaves and children (Luke 15:19). Like the prodigal son, the Galatians wanted their Father to accept them as servants, when they were really children. The sonhas the same nature as the father; the slave does not. Children have a father, while slaves have a master. No slave can call his mater “Father.” When sinners trust in Christ, they receive the Holy Spirit who bears witness that they are God’s children.

Children obey out of love, while slaves obey out of fear. Slaves obeyed their masters through fear of punishment; vanquished soldiers obeyed their victors through fear of death; ancient civilizations obeyed their gods through fear of receiving their wrath.

Today, fear continues to mobilize many: employees who obey their bosses through fear of being dismissed, patients who obey their doctors through fear of death, and even Christians who obey God through fear of present curses and eternal punishments.

“God has two thrones. One at the top of heaven,
and one in the humblest of hearts” (D. L. Moody).

He adopts us out of love, and makes us children and heirs,
so that we may live through love
by depending on the Lord and doing His will.

Are you a slave or an heir? God bless you…

“Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child,
does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all”
– Galatians 4:1 –

In chapter 4 of Galatians, Paul presented two analogies: that of the heir and that of the two sons. The apostle said that “when the fullness of time had come” (Gal. 4:4), God sent Jesus Christ to rescue us and give us salvation.

When that happened, the world was at peace, under just one government. Travel by land and sea was relatively safe and fast. There was a universal language: Greek, and the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament were available in Greek. Many were dissatisfied with their religious beliefs and eager for the truth about life and human destiny.

The Jews were scattered everywhere, and in spite of their imperfections, they gave witness of the true God. They went to Jerusalem from all over the world and when they returned, they could take with them the news of the coming of the Messiah. The truth is that God could not have chosen a better place or time to deliver the message of the gospel to the world in that period and place of history.

The Lord rescues us and adopts us as His children. Rescue literally means “to buy and redeem from servitude or slavery.” Together with the most important work of rescuing people from sin, Christ’s fulfillment of the types of the ceremonial system also freed the Jews from the additional obligation of that system and the curse that fell on all those who sought salvation by fulfilling their own requirements.

In the capital of a South American city, while the trash was being collected one night, a shocking story took place. The garbage truck had a garbage compactor. The public servants were walking and running by the truck and carrying the trash bags. Suddenly, when one of them was about to throw one more bag into the truck, he felt some faint movements. He opened the bag and was alarmed to discover a little baby just a few weeks old.

The madness of this world blinded someone to leave that baby on the verge of death. Fortunately, she was helped and taken to the hospital. Thus, they saved her life, and she was adopted by the very person who had rescued her and named her Miracles.

The devil has put us all in this dark world of sin
in order to compact and destroy us. However, in the fullness of time,
our Sin Collector became the Rescuer of our lives
and the Adopter of our existence.

There is no greater miracle or commitment of love so great
than to live for the One who came to give us life in abundance.

Do you consider yourself a Miracle? Be blessed…

“What purpose then does the law serve? It was added
because of trasgressions, till the Seed should come
to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed
through angels by the hand of a mediator”
– Galatians 3:19 –

Since it was clear that salvation is by grace and not by keeping the Law, another problem arose: why is the Law given? If the Law does not serve any purpose, neither do the arguments, because they were taken from the Law. Is it perhaps possible to understand the mysteries of faith logically?

Men create laws to amend laws, but God is not going to create a law that changes His promise. Abraham did not make a covenant with God; God made a covenant with Abraham. Paul revealed another wonderful thruth: God gave this promise not only to Abraham, but also to Christ, His Seed (Gal. 3:16). Already in Genesis, after the entry of sin, it was said that there would be a conflict between the seed of the enemy and the seed of the woman. Satan’s goal was to prevent The Seed, Christ, from being born into the world, for he knew that the Son of God would wound him in the head.

The law does not contradict the promise; it cooperates with the promise by fulfilling God’s plans. How does it do that? If life and righteousness could come through the law, Christ Jesus would never have died on the cross.

The law shows the sinner his guilt; and grace, the forgiveness he can have in Christ. The law is holy, fair, and good (Rom. 7:12), but we are wicked, unjust, and evil. Illegal us is trying to achieve salvation by keeping the law.

The tutor was the slave trained to care for and take his master’s children to and from school. He was the child’s teacher and instructor, a guide. The law is the tutor that leads us to Christ (Gal. 3:24).

A very well known writer summed it up like this:

We do not earn salvation by our obedience; for salvation is the free gift of God, to be received by faith. But obedience is the fruit of faith… Here is the true test. If we abide in Christ, if the love of God dwells in us, our feelings, our thoughts, our purposes, our actions, will be in harmony with the will of God as expressed in the precepts of His holy law (Steps to Christ, p. 61).

The woman who was found in sin was not condemned by Jesus, but forgiven. It was not through her merrits, nor because of her works, but through the grace of the Savior. Now forgiven and rescued, Jesus said to her, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11), thus maker her subject of the law.

The more grace we receive,
the greater is our commitment of faithfulness.

Be blessed, in the name of Jesus…

“Just as Abraham ‘believed God,
and it was accounted to him for righteousness’ “
– Galatians 3:6 –

Paul balanced the sujective experience with objective evidence: We do not evaluate the Word by our experience; rather we judge our experience in the light of the Word. The apostle presented statements from the Old Testament to prove that salvation is through faith iin Christ, not by the works of the Law.

Therefore, he began quoting Moses in order to show that God’s righteousness was attributed to Abraham only because he believed in God’s promise. It was accounted to him; that is, his account received a credit of righteousness that paid off the debts of sin. The Jews were proud to be descendants of Abraham, but salvation is not automatically inherited. Gos has children, but He does not have grandchildren. We all need to be born as children of God.

Salvation was promised to all nations through Abraham, so Paul took that gospel to the Galatians: sinners are justified by faith, not by keeping the law.

Paul quoted Habakkuk 2:4 and said that “the just shall live by faith” (v. 11). The Holy Spirit inspired three books to explain this statement. Romans refers to the “just” as the sinner who is justified from sin (Rom. 1:17 and 6:7; cf. 3:24-28; 5:19; 6:7); Galatians teaches that the “just shall live” (Gal. 3:11), and Hebrews says how that will take place: by faith, and not by the law (Heb. 10:38; cf. 4:2; 6:1; 10:22, 38; 11:1).

The legalists wanted to appeal to the attractions of a religion based on the works of the law, while Paul showed the joy of a relationship of love and life through faith in Christ. If believers could exchange faith and grace for the law and works, they did not need to have fellowship with the Lord. For a true Jew, Abraham’s blessing came through Christ. For a Gentile, the gift of the Holy Spirit was bestowed through Christ.

“This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the
freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. We did not give in to them for a
moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you” (Gal. 2:4-5).

Jesus suffered the utmost humilliation by being crucified to redeem us. Redemption meant buying a slave, not to own him, but to give him freedom. The legalists wanted to take redemption to the freedom of the child of God into slavery.

Perhaps there is some “bewitching” thought in your heart
or lingering around you that is not based on the Bible.
Paul alerted the Galatians regarding that, and also us.
Why choose slavery when we can choose freedom?
“You cannot keep birds from flying over your head,
but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair”
(Martin Luther).

Allow yourself to be guided by the Holy Spirit, you will be amazed…

“This only I want to learn from you:
Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law,
or by the hearing of faith?”
– Galatians 3:2 –

In the sixty verses of Galatians 3 and 4, we have Paul’s strongest message defending salvation by grace and justification by faith, warning and admonishing against legalism. His arguments were not half-hearted. His opponents had used every type of argument to deceive; he was going to use the full weight of truth to save. Paul presented the Galatians’ own testimony as an argument for the truth. They became believers when they saw the gospel and became foolish when they stopped looking at the gospel.

The key word in Paul’s question in Galatians 3:4:

“Have you suffered so many things in vain?”

The apostle had been with these believers in their first steps. He knew about their transformative experience and how they had come out of darkness into the wonderful light of the gospel. What is happening now?

The arrival of the legalist bewitched Galatians. Paul treated them as foolish, not in the sense of wicked, but in the sense of spiritually backward. Paul strengthened his argument by saying that they had seen the crucified Christ and had heard, believed, obeyed, and were born into God’s family.

As indicated in today’s verse, the mention of receiving the Holy Spirit appears eighteen times throughout the epistle. Was this reception by faith or by works? Of course, it was because they believed, and the Holy Spirit led them to Christ.

In the Garden of Eden was the tree of life. All the paths in the garden led there. Because of our sin, we lost access to it. When the cross of wood raised Christ on Calvary, like the old serpent in the wilderness, the hidden tree of life, and was seen by everyone. Today, there is only oone way to the tree of life, and that way is Christ. The Galatians foolishly looked the other way.

Which way are you looking? Please, look at the Cross.
“In the matchless gift of His Son, God has encircled
the whole world with an atmosphere of grace as real
as the air which circulates around the globe.
All who choose to breathe this life-giving atmosphere
will live and grow up to the stature of men and women in Christ Jesus”
(Steps to Christ, p. 68).

Let us all look at the Cross. Jesus is the only way, truth, and life. May God bless you today…

“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you
that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ
was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?”
– Galatians 3:1 –

Chapter 3 of Galatians is biblical theology, pure and deep. Five themes stand out:

1. Paul is impressed with the foolishness of the Galatians in renouncing the gospel of grace and relying on the pseudo-gospel of salvation by works. We must flee at all costs from a religion based on merits for salvation (vv. 2-5).
2. Paul had been the bearer of the clear and solid message and teaching of the crucified Christ (v. 1). However, even so, the Galatians were turning away from those teachings. This shows that it is not enough to know and even have a deep content; it is necessary to submit our lives to Christ.
3. Salvation is a grace that is imputed to us. The faith shown by Abraham was credited to his account in heaven, taking away his debt, and God considered him righteous. Works had no relationship with having attained that favorable credit in the books of heaven. God simply offered him salvation, and he accepted it by faith, trusting in the fulfillment of God’s promise. His own efforts could never have bought that bessed state (vv. 6-18).
4. There are no favors with Christ. In the kingdom of Christ, all are covered by the same garments of Christ’s righteousness, received by faith in Jesus Christ: men and women, Jews and non-Jews.  It is enough to accept it and live by faith (vv. 25-28).
5. Whoever is in Christ is heir to the promises attained by Him through His death (v. 29). Living in Christ means living in the light of his teachings and understanding and reproducing in our lives, by faith, what He left us in His Word. However, what we live or the way we live has no saving merrit, for what saves us exclusively the grace of God.

The Galatians were bewitched. Paul wondered who bewitched them so that they left the truth and believed that we could be saved by merrits or works. People are bewitched by captivating looks. Serpents bewitch their prey, exercising terrorizing control. Some people are bewitched by the brightness or value of precious stones or a diamond. There are those who are bewitched by people and allow themselves to be attracted irresistibly. It can be for evil or for good.

Do not allow yourself to be bewitched by the old snake
who is ready to deceive and destroy.
Do not allow yourself to be bewitched
by the temporary sparkle of non-existent gospels.
Instead, let yourself be bewitched irresistibly by Jesus
and His grace, so that He may save you from all sin,
and you may offer Him your life in gratitude and commitment.

Be sober, be vigilant, be blessed…

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live,
but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh
I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me”
– Galatians 2:20 –

The news covered the front page of one of Brazil’s largest newspapers: The State of Sao Paulo. Only one photo was highlighted in the March 25, 2017 edition, with the title “Her Heart Arrived.” It was the story of thirty-four year old nurse Fabiana Ebani, who had been connected to an artificial heart for fifty-one days while she waited for a transplant.

The news put an end to a wait that already lasted one year. On January 24 of the same year, she suffered six cardiac arrests, and the organ permanently stopped working. She had to be connected to an artificial heart that was designed to function for just one month, but Fabiana went far beyond that time.

The surgery was performed on March 1. The donation had to wait because the organs were not compatible, and the families did not agree to make the donation. In Brazil, just in 2016, 5,939 families were asked, but 2,571 (forty-three percent) did not give the necessary authorization for the donation. Two thousand people who were waiting for an organ died; of those, eighty-two were children.

Fabiana knows little about the donor of her heart, just that she was a woman about the same age as she. “It is very hard to think that someone had to lose her life for me to survive,” she said.

We too need a “heart transplant.” We do not need to be on a waiting list, and the replacement is always immediate. The transplant happens at the speed of surrender and with the intensity of prayer.

The stony, callous heart needs to be replaced by a heart of flesh
that is sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

When there is no sensitivity to the great works of God and the evidences of His love, when the gravity of sin is not felt and the guidance of the Word is not sought, when the urgency of salvation seems only theory or a necessity for others, then we need a transplant.

When you are excited about God’s miracles, when you recognize the works He has done in your own life, when you feel uncomfortable with sin, when you are hungry for the Word and cannot live far from the Lord; then you already have a new heart. “To have a change of heart is to withdraw the affections from the world, and fasten them upon Christ. To have a new heart is to have a new mind, new purposes, new motives” (Messages to Young People, p. 72).

How is your heart?
Jesus came to Earth to give the great news:
“Your new heart has arrived.”
The risk is already at its limit.
Why waith longer for the “transplant?”

How is your heart today…?