Proving yourself
James Cathcart
September 17, 2024
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Galatians 4: 7 (NRSVA)
7 So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
It makes sense when you think about it.
But it’s easy to forget.
We live in a world that has been profoundly shaped by the New Testament.
But the New Testament didn’t.
Not when it first came out.
Paul is keen throughout Galatians to cut the distance between us and God. He wants to cut through the unnecessary and distracting, such is his heart that people hear the true Gospel — that God cherishes you, loves you, considers you a beloved heir even.
God is family. God is in it for the long haul. God is available. God listens. God is here.
The incredible proximity of God is the big news of the Good News. We might take ‘Our Father in Heaven…’ for granted, because we’re used to hearing it — but the shocking closeness of God — literally part of the family — has unsettled as well as comforted people through the ages.
If we stop and think about it now, can it unsettle us again too? We live in a world profoundly shaped by the New Testament — but one where large parts of it are becoming less familiar with the language of the Gospel. Taking it less and less for granted.
In a culture where we are often searching for meaning, when we are wanting to prove ourselves as genuine, authentic people, God requires no such test.
There’s no internship.
Or course.
No probation.
You don’t need a reference.
You don’t have to prove anything.
We might want to prove ourselves to God,
or have God prove himself to us.
But neither are necessary.
God adopts you, takes you on, cherishes you, chooses you anyway.
Pray:
Wake us up to your timeless love
when we would turn away
against the light,
so that we might see and know
that you are God.
Amen.
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