For Sunday, June 2, 2013 – Galatians 1:1-12
People whom Paul says had been set free from their “present evil age” were now “quickly deserting…and turning to a different gospel.” This has been the temptation for Christians from the beginning. It’s nice to know we’re not alone.
Maybe we are tugged away by the prosperity gospel. Or it might be ‘name-it-and-claim-it’ theology. Maybe it’s called ‘assisted self-empowerment’–a belief that God helps those who help themselves. Sometimes it’s the gospel called ‘keep the church going whether the Spirit is still in it or not.’ Lest you think I’m judging others and not myself, oh no. Let me assure you, I too have said I’m trusting God while sneaking off the narrow path to follow a gospel of making things happen, trying to accomplish and succeed. Who among us hasn’t forgotten once in awhile that God is God and we are not?
There are so many imposter gospels on the way to the All-There-Is. Like running to the casino and the shopping mall to avoid our money troubles, we turn to various gospels of positive thinking and warm feelings to avoid the still point within where God and True Self converge, where real peace and passionate response are possible. The adrenaline gospel lures us with its promise to satisfy every desire or at least entertain us on the way. No desert passages, no sacrificial offerings for us. We can have Jesus our way, on our terms. The vending machine God loves to give…provided we drop in our shiny coins of devotion. Surely God wants us to succeed, to be happy and to prosper in work, love and prestige. Surely God will be pleased when we are pleased.
The tricky nature of the fake gospels is that they are glazed in truth. God does love to give, does draw us to the wellspring of abundant life, but in God’s way, on God’s terms, not ours. Our job is simply to love God with all our heart, follow Jesus with all our heart. God decides the rest. When we stop trying to have a certain kind of God and a certain kind of spiritual experience, we are freed. We no longer need to please anyone. We begin to live the Real Gospel.
