Title: The 3 secrets of a successful life
Galatians (1) Three secrets of a successful life (Galatians 1:1-5)
1. sense of vocation
The apostle Paul called himself an apostle and claimed that the apostleship came from God, not man (verse 1). The claim does not indicate his pride, but rather his strong sense of vocation. A calling is to have the conviction that God has called me to a certain place for a certain work and that I am absolutely necessary there. When you have such a sense of calling, you move forward without giving up on your brilliant dreams and visions.
Two important requirements of an apostle are found in Acts 1:21-22. First, it must be a person who actually walked with Jesus when he was alive. Second, you must be a person who has actually witnessed the resurrected Jesus. Paul met the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus and claimed to have been appointed by God to become an apostle, but Paul's attackers denied Paul's apostleship, saying that he had never been with Jesus for three years and had never seen the risen Jesus. .
From the standpoint of the enemy, he thought that Christianity would crumble if only Paul, the “leader of Christianity,” was eliminated, and he took his apostleship as an issue, so Paul often insisted on his apostleship. The most important thing to have confidence in the apostleship was a sense of calling. No matter how lacking, if you are sure that God has called you, you can do great things.
2. co-worker
If you look at the expression “all the brothers who are with you” as a co-sender of Galatians (verse 2), you can understand the character and ministry of the Apostle Paul to some extent. An important characteristic of Paul's ministry was that he mainly worked as a team. So he always had co-workers with him: Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, Titus, Luke, Lydia, Phoebe, Priscilla and Aquila.
Aristarchus in Colossians 4:10 is also a good co-worker. Oddly enough, he was always there for Paul whenever he suffered. When Paul was imprisoned in a Roman prison, he voluntarily came to him, and claimed to have been imprisoned in prison. Whenever Paul wanted to sit down and give up, Aristarchus allowed him to stand up again.
Paul is a person, but Aristarchus is also a person. Paul alone did not evangelize the world. Everyone works together, filling each other's needs and shortcomings. When we are in fellowship, there is pain, but faith and character grow in that pain. In particular, if you want to be a good co-worker, be patient and be a person who supports you silently for a long time rather than being a person who frequently asks, “I have a question.”
3. Cross
One of the main purposes of faith is to obtain grace and peace (verse 3). The most necessary thing to accomplish the purpose of that faith is the obedience of the cross (verse 4). Do not focus only on getting too drunk in your life of faith. First, obey first, and then leave the rest of your burdens to the Lord. You work so hard and sweat, but leave the results of your work to God. Obedience is obedience to obey orders, but true obedience is the attitude of completely entrusting the results of all things.
There are two types of religion. The religion of fig leaves and the religion of skins. The religion of fig leaves tries to cover up one's shame with discipline, morality, and ethics, but the religion of leather clothes hides human shame through God's grace. Of course, morality, discipline, and temperance are not bad, but first, you must put on the skin of grace and then refine yourself. This does not mean that we should turn away from our efforts for achievement, but rather that we should strive for grace.
Jesus was glorified on the cross (verse 5). Many people today long for glory, but in reality there is no glory without the cross. So wherever you go, try to find difficult things and try to do them first. If he does only easy things in life and tries to avoid difficult things every day, his soul will be bare, but if he develops a spiritual eye to find the things he needs, he will surely rise to a blessed position.