Gospel Christians

Galatians 4:9 says, “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?”

This was one of the Scriptures I read earlier this morning from my Thistlebend Fearless study. What a thought provoking question. My study followed this Scripture up with another thought provoking question, “What are the worthless things of the world that have a pull on you?”

I wrote down things like how I’ve been comparing myself to others and their weight gain in pregnancy versus mine. I wrote down that the opinions of others have a pull on me, specifically a made up opinion in my head of what my husband thinks a wife should be like. These things are so relevant and real to me, things I very much consider throughout my day and can determine my state of mind or mood at any given moment.

This Scripture in Galatians describes these pulls from the world that I have as “weak and worthless elementary principles.” When really thinking about these pulls from the world, especially in comparison to the truth of Scripture, they are so worthless. Why is it worth my time to compare myself to someone else, thinking they’re better because they’re a smaller pregnant woman than me? It doesn’t even sound logical when I write out what my mind is doing there.

A friend of mind this morning sent me an article that she had read titled, “Don’t Turn Motherhood into an Idol.” The author, David E. Prince, wrote about how it’s easy to let children become the central focus of a mother’s life instead of the gospel. When that happens, he says, motherhood can easily become a burden instead of a blessing. A mom can constantly feel the pull from the world to compare and feel like she hasn’t done enough because a “good mom” is supposed to do, fill in the blank.

The author challenged moms to stop trying to be good moms and start being gospel moms. Moms that have the gospel as their central focus. I love Prince’s ending sentence of the article: “Satan delights in self-righteous supermoms, but he trembles at humble gospel-moms who just keep joyfully plodding along, imperfectly but persistently, trying to walk in line with the gospel and call her kids to the same.”

I started thinking about this article and this idea of being a gospel mom in light of what the Lord has been teaching me through the Fearless study and R.C. Sproul’s book The Holiness of God. One of the memory verses from the Fearless study, Deuteronomy 32:39 says, “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.” God alone is God. He alone sits on the throne with the whole world under His rule. He alone is holy and is the only one set apart. Because this is all true, I believe I can hear the angst in Paul’s voice when he asked the Galatians the question he did in Galatians 4. I can hear his angst as the Scripture asked me the same question, WHY would you turn back to the worthless elementary principles of this world?

The Lord revealed as I read that article and thought on Galatians 4:9 that I may not be a self-righteous supermom just yet, but that’s the path I am walking down and I do strive to be the self-righteous super-wife and super-friend and super-employee and super-Christian. I don’t want to be their slaves anymore and the beautiful thing is I don’t have to be—all because of the GOSPEL!

Because Jesus humbled himself to come down to earth and be a human, lived a perfect life, out of obedience and love died on the cross, and then three days later rose again, and because God in His loving mercy said He will look on Jesus to pay for my sins, I no longer have to live for the “weak and worthless elementary principles of the world.” I don’t have to be enslaved to my fleshly sin desire to be the self-righteous superwoman who’s constantly bowing to everyone else’s expectations. No, by God’s grace, I can live for the gospel that broke my chains. The God that sits on the throne can be my focus.

Paul points out in Galatians 4:9 that in order to go back to the weak pulls of the world we would have to turn back: “…how can you turn back again…” It’s time for me to make another turn. A turn back to my King. By God’s grace alone to stop looking at an Instagram post of someone that I have made to be perfect in my mind and compare myself to them. It’s time to confess any comparison to the Lord and then encourage instead of compare. To stop allowing the enemy to take my focus off the sweet gift from the Lord inside me and put it on something worthless. It’s time for me to stop feeling the non-existent pressure from my husband of having our house together or to look a certain way or to know all things about mothering and confess these perceived pressures, again by God’s grace, to the Lord and to my husband and instead remember the point of marriage—yet again the gospel.

Of course, this is all much easier said than done and just because I’m “feeling” pumped about being this gospel focused woman doesn’t mean there will be overnight change. I know this happens in the Lord’s timing, not mine. I won’t do this perfectly, but He alone provides the growth, and when He does, it will be all for His glory. I’m tired of fearing, however, that something will be lost if I don’t continue to try and please people (the pulls of the world) and please the Lord at the same time. Maybe you are too. Let’s pray for each other, that we’ll lay aside the “weak and worthless elementary principles of the world” and instead be gospel-wives, gospel-moms, gospel-employees, gospel-friends and gospel-Christians, not for us, but for Him.

Planted for His Glory