From the Devotional Book “Closer to God”

Contributor – Peter Pollock former SA cricketer and selector and father of Shaun Pollock retired Protea’s captain and current cricket commentator. In introducing his devotional studies on the Book of Galatians, Peter makes two introductions, one headed “One Way” and the other “All new, everything changed”.

One Way (Read Galatians chapter 01-03)

The greatest challenge facing the modern church is compromise. There was a time when it carried weight to quote scripture, but these days its just another opinion, and sadly not very influential. Hardly a week passes without evidence of compromise, as more and more of the gospel is being tailored to fit demands of the world. Indeed Christianity has become big business and the original product – the gospel – has got a little lost. Sadly Jesus Christ has become little or more than a symbol, a brand name, a cross that has been diluted of its power.

Christ has been compromised off His throne, sacrificed on the altar of expedience and modernized. The good values, Biblical ones, have been replaced by an updated seeker-friendly, discipline, obedience, a relationship, or daily submission to the lordship of Jesus Christ We are making the gospel more acceptable to big business politics and sportsmen by diluting the major ingredients, and consequently we should not be surprised at the lack of faith, conviction and impact.

But the good news is that irrespective of appearances and perceptions, and even all those compromises, the real church is still alive and well and growing from strength to strength There maybe a different gospel, but the real gospel is still the power unto  salvation for those who believe. Submission to Jesus and His life-changing power provides daily evidence of the truth of the gospel.

However Paul’s concern about worldly influences, as it affected the Galatians, is an ongoing problem that still confronts us. More important is that we need to accept that compromise and worldly values do significantly influence those who are not constantly on guard, spiritually speaking. All too often this sort of alertness is regarded as super spirituality or excessive zeal, and subtly we are deceived, Paul was exceedingly concerned about what was happening to the Galatians. Hopefully we can recognize that little has changed. We face the same predicament. It’s the old cross that changes lives, Its all or nothing. There can be no compromise.

All new, everything changed (Read Galatians chapter 04-06)

My life turned around dramatically because of the simple but undeniably profound fact that when Jesus Christ comes into a life, that life changes. In other words, if there is no change, then there is no Jesus. I had always regarded my wife, Inez, as a bit of a nag. For years, there had been no real love or honour in the marriage, it had just bumbled along from one year to the next. Then Inez got born again. What a difference. What a change. Love bubbled out of her And through her testimony the whole family came to Christ.

We had found the pearl of great price. All else paled into insignificance by comparison. There was that wonderful excitement of first love and, needless to say, the new found enthusiasm and zeal irritated some of the more staid regular church-goers. “Lock them up for six months” said one. “Hopefully they will mature”, said another. But it was having an impact, because Jesus is profound. He is the Son of God.

At the orientation class, I had an argument with one of the elders. He dared to suggest that there was a cost in following Jesus. I begged to differ. We were in fact saying the same thing, differently. His point was it does cost, in that many cherished things change. My point simply revolved around the fact that nothing on this earth can be compared to Jesus. Pricelessness doesn’t warrant comparison, was my standpoint. I have come to understand something about lukewarmness. People talk glibly about backsliding and being tepid, but I suggest that if you have really and truly met Jesus, its very difficult, well nigh impossible, to get lukewarm about Him. You might well have queries about your Christian walk, or even frustrations, but never, is there any question about the Lordship of Jesus. Adoration for Him and His exalted position should never be questioned or doubted.

Somehow I sense that this is something that often disturbed Paul. How easily believers allowed things of the world, or their own problems, to affect their priceless relationship with Jesus. Maybe I hear some say, if they had shared what Paul had experienced on the Damascus Road, they too would have been stronger in faith. All I know is that men are being converted daily and their lives are never the same. And their testimony is that nothing, absolutely nothing, can be compared to Jesus Christ.