David Bahn – Reflections

I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, ² but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. ³ In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. ⁴ But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. ⁶ And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

⁸ Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. ⁹ 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? ¹⁰ You observe days and months and seasons and years! ¹¹ I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.

During a very long call process at Hope Lutheran Church the Call Committee members began to get discouraged. They had been at work for more than 2 years and at that time they were wondering if their work was all in vain. They had issued two calls which had been declined. Another wrinkle in the process had cropped up. The list of candidates they had most recently received provided no good possibilities as they explored the list. They wondered if their work had been in vain.

Parents who see their children grow up in a Christian home, having been taught God’s word, and done all they could to raise them in the Christian faith – only to see them abandon the faith. They go to college and someone entices them away from the faith. Or through any number of circumstances a child grows up and completely disconnects from family, faith, and God. A faithful employee sees a colleague who cheats, lies, and steals gets the promotion. A faithful husband discovers his wife is having an affair. The list goes on and on. People wonder whether their faithfulness, godliness, integrity, and effort to do good is all in vain.

A child grows up and by the age of 14 learns that being good doesn’t pay off. At least that’s the way they see it. There is no quid pro quo; goodness in blessings out does not happen. The books seem never to be balanced. Evil seems always to get away with it. That is part of the key to all this. We don’t fight the battle of faithfulness without enemies within and without. Our sinful flesh, the world itself, and the devil conspire to bring evil upon even the faithful. Just ask Job.

Paul worries that his work among the Galatians might have been in vain. But he knows better. He writes to the Corinthians, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58). He knows better, but he warns the Galatian Christians not to let the message of Jesus be shared with them in vain. He is appealing to their better nature, and calling them back to faith in Jesus and away from anything that would trust in themselves for life and salvation.

We may not need that kind of reminder, except that any time we believe we can guarantee a good outcome by our efforts we are in danger of setting aside the true message of Jesus. His grace and truth are the foundation upon which we can build a life strong in hope and joyful in freedom. Our hope is in Jesus. Our freedom is in him, and in taking ourselves off the hook of engineering a good outcome by means of our own efforts. That freedom is made possible by his death. That hope is secured in the resurrection of Jesus.

Our labor in the Lord is never in vain. Paul will say that to the Galatians later in this letter: “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). That’s a good reminder for all of us.