GALATIANS 4:9

“But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles, to which you want to be enslaved all over again?”

No one wants to be seen as weak and worthless. I know I sure didn’t. When I was in junior high and high school, I had a weight-lifting coach who had an incredible strength building regiment. I loved lifting weights. I wanted to be the biggest and strongest guy on the team, so I worked hard in the gym. It paid off, and I was able to gain the muscle I wanted to compete on the football field.

Paul isn’t talking about “bulking up” physically. He is, however, talking about those weak and worthless things in our lives that rob us of our spiritual strength. He was warning the Galatians about going back to their former way of thinking, to the things of their former lives that were without any spiritual good. The Greek word for “worthless” literally means like a beggar. Who wants that?

APPLICATION

We have all heard about drug addicts who go through rehab, learn coping skills to deal with their addiction, get better, get released and then almost immediately return to their former way of living. They return to those weak and worthless things. We are warned about that. Jesus said in Luke 9:62, “But Jesus said to him, ‘No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’” You can’t return to the old way of living.

So, what do we do to prevent this from happening? I love how Paul puts it in his letter to the Philippians. In 3:14 he says, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” That’s it! We press on. Just like I had to do those bench presses and shoulder presses and leg presses to build physical muscle, I have to press against anything that tries to pull me back into my former way of thinking or living. That pushing back will build spiritual muscle.

I don’t want to become some spiritually muscle-bound Christian who doesn’t know how to apply what I know. I want to be fit for the kingdom and actually in the battle. How about you? Are you ready to “get fit” for Jesus? Are you ready to lay down anything from the past that is weak and worthless? Let’s do it.

Father, pump me up spiritually so I am able to fight the battles that are headed my way.