Division of Labor

Daily Reading:  Galatians 1

Scripture Focus: Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead... (Galatians 1.1-2)

Devotional Thought: Today is Labor Day, so let's consider the Division of Labor we find in Galatians 1.

Paul was an apostle.  Yet, Paul had not met Jesus while Christ walked on this earth in his incarnate body.  A careful reading of Acts 1 reveals that an apostle had to be an eyewitness of Jesus - to have personally known Jesus - not just heard about him through the witness of others.  So, how could he make the formal claim of apostleship?

Paul's apostleship wasn't from man.  Paul was careful to point out that his authority did not rest on any ecclesiastical body.  Human authority had actually cause him to persecute Christ and Christians.  Nor was his apostleship through man.  While Paul had heard about Jesus through the Christians he had persecuted, none of those testimonies had convinced him that Jesus was the Son of God.

So, how did Paul become an apostle?

It was through Jesus Christ.  Though Christ had ascended to the Father and no longer walked on this earth in his human body, he appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus.  And when he appeared he commissioned him in his apostleship!  But it was also through God the Father.  The same power that raised Christ from the dead also raised Paul from spiritual death.  That power was from God.

The same thing is true today.  We need to remember that when we testify to others about the grace of God.  The power to convince others does not rest in us.  That power is from God.  We want our family and friends to know Jesus, so we bear witness to his saving grace.  But, we must pray and depend on God to do the work of convincing and converting.  When we try to do it, it becomes coercion - never a good thing!

Prayer:  Lord, thank you for saving me, and for giving me the wonderful privilege of bearing witness to your amazing grace.  Help me to allow you to do your work of convincing and converting the lost.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day:  23 Then Israel came to Egypt; Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. 24 And the LORD made his people very fruitful and made them stronger than their foes. 25 He turned their hearts to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants. 26 He sent Moses, his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen. 27 They performed his signs among them and miracles in the land of Ham. 28 He sent darkness, and made the land dark; they did not rebel against his words. 29 He turned their waters into blood and caused their fish to die. 30 Their land swarmed with frogs, even in the chambers of their kings. 31 He spoke, and there came swarms of flies, and gnats throughout their country. 32 He gave them hail for rain, and fiery lightning bolts through their land. 33 He struck down their vines and fig trees, and shattered the trees of their country. 34 He spoke, and the locusts came, young locusts without number, 35 which devoured all the vegetation in their land and ate up the fruit of their ground. 36 He struck down all the firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of all their strength. (Psalms 105:23-36)