"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different Gospel"  (Galatians 1:6).

I was struck this morning, as I was reading, that as we abandon the Gospel, we are abandoning Him who called us--God himself. Now I know that we can theologically depart from the Gospel, but what I am most tempted with, is functionally departing from the Gospel in my heart. There are moments when I am profoundly aware of my own sin and I depart from the hope of the Gospel and give in to condemnation and self-pity. Then there are other times when I depart from the Gospel by believing, like the Galatians, that I am justified before God because of my law keeping. Instead of looking to Christ as the fulfillment of the law, I begin to relate to God on the basis of my obedience before God. This spills over into how I relate to others. I begin to judge others by their performance, and I give in to a self-righteous "phariseeism."

These two common temptations are serious and represent a functional departure from the Gospel in my own heart. What breaks my heart is that when I do this I am not only deserting the Gospel, but the God of the Gospel, who so graciously called me to Himself. The Apostle Paul was astonished to see the Galatians fall so quickly into this trap, and we should be astonished as well. Let us, by grace, see the seriousness of departing from the Gospel in our own hearts and run to the God who has called us. In His presence we will find mercy and help in our time of need.