Galatians

So, I started my SBS (School of Biblical Studies) last week and we just finished our first book, Galatians today. For those of you unfamiliar with this school in Y, it's nine months of studying the entire Bible inductively. You go through each book of the Bible five times throughout the course, aiming to observe, interpret and apply. It is a school I have been wanting to do since I did my DTS and haven't had the time to do until now. I consider it an immense privilege to be able to be here.

There are 59 students in my school, 19 staff members. It makes for quite a crowd of us. I am living in an apartment in the city of Dan Shui, Taiwan until the end of this year with 19 other people, 5 of whom are my immediate roommates. Despite the intense community and my introverted tendencies, I've been really enjoying the fellowship of the other students, hearing their stories and getting to know them. It is immensely refreshing to just be a student, to soak in the word of God for HOURS throughout the whole day, and to just allow God to work on my heart (all while enjoying the occasional cup of coffee at Starbucks!).

So, I hope to blog here about the things I'm learning from each book. It will probably be a bit more personal and less informational, but if you are wanting to share with me things you are learning from these particular books of the Bible as well, I'd be happy to open it up for dialogue! "Iron sharpens iron." I'd love to be sharpened by you.

So, Galatians. First, I must share a bit of personal history with this book. I took a class in college on Romans and Galatians for my Bible degree at Northwestern College. I'm sure the professor was great, but I really struggled with that class and felt like I hated theology, I hated the term 'justification by faith' and I felt like I nearly lost my salvation by the end of it all. We got really deep into theological debates and I felt like these books turned to sawdust in my mouth. I was so confused as to what I really believed. To top if all off, I ended up doing a project with the person I was dating at the time out of the book of Galatians, and it ended up being a real interpersonal struggle and we didn't get a very good grade.

So, I came to Galatians this last week with that history. I had to admit, I was disappointed that we didn't start somewhere else, anywhere else. But, dive in we did. We learned the method of inductive Bible Study and tore apart Galatians for ourselves. As I saw Paul's heart for the Galatians, how they had once embraced the Gospel so wholeheartedly and now they were being taught by false teachers that what they received wasn't enough, but they needed circumcision/the law as well. I believe Paul sums it up when he says if they turn back to the law, they are saying Christ died for no purpose (2:21). When we look to anything else for our worth, identity, value, salvation we say that Christ was useless. That is the seriousness of legalism!!

I have really been challenged by this especially after running myself in the ground and nearly hitting burnout. I was so convicted this week of the pride in my heart . I thought I was a super-leader. I thought I could do so much in my own strength. And I started looking outside of God to fulfill my needs. It brought me to the place I am now...brokenness, weakness, dependency. I am thankful for where I am now, but so saddened that I de-valued Christ and that is what brought me here. Grace. Oh the sweet, freeing grace of God. I spent a good deal of time this week just repenting of my pride.

Another thing that really hit me was areas of my understanding of the nature and character of God that are untrue. One of the staff was giving a lecture about the phrase "the fullness of time" that God brought Christ into the world (4:4). God's purposes were never just the law but it pointed to Christ. And this took 2000 years to happen. God's timing is never wrong. And he doesn't lie. Then she said, "God doesn't play games with you." This struck me straight to the core. I have been believing that God has messed with me this last year. I committed to things that fell apart, I hoped for things that were huge failures, and I somewhere along the way came to believe that God was messing with me, speaking promises and not fulfilling them. Again, I was up on my balcony just weeping at the revelation of my unbelief.

But, it's been SO GOOD! If I was spending so much time in the word and not being changed by it, I would surprised. It's a huge privilege to be able to just allow God's truth to wash over me. And the beauty is that God brings up these areas in our heart for healing, for freedom, to give us something new. Before I came to do this SBS, the word God has been speaking is "Behold, I make all things new." He is taking away the garbage to give me something new and beautiful.

So, thank you friends for letting me be a bit vulnerable, and I just ask for your prayers. I'm asking God every day for the spirit of wisdom and revelation (Ephesians 1:17) not just for head knowledge, but for heart change, so that I may share it with others.