Be Hatched or Go Bad

Gal 4:8-11 (ESV)
 
Paul's Concern for the Galatians
8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10  You observe days and months and seasons and years! 11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.
 
One of the movies that I’ve enjoyed over the years is Shawshank Redemption (not for children!). 
One scene in the movie is particularly gripping.  An elderly inmate named Brooks Hatlen learns that after decades of being incarcerated, he is about to be given his freedom.  But when Brooks hears the news, he isn’t excited at all.  Instead, Brooks is overwhelmed by the prospect of freedom after all the years of ridged structure, and in a bid to stay in prison, he threatens the life of another inmate.
 
I was thinking about that as I read this passage.  The Galatian Christians have been set free from the things that formerly enslaved them when they entrusted their lives to Jesus.  But now, as Paul chastises them, they are choosing to go back to what they were before, only this time, they are enslaving themselves to the rules and regulations of Jewish belief rather than living in their freedom as members of God’s family. 
 
In essence, the Galatian Christians are exchanging their relationship with the living God who has revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Spirit to give their love, devotion, and worship to an idol, a religious system, and Paul wonders out loud if he has wasted his time with them.
 
Before we judge the Galatian Christians, we need to pause for a moment and look at our own lives.  Too often we resemble the Galatian believers.  Too often we give our love and devotion to other things, other practices, and other people rather than be wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord. 
It’s called idolatry, and often, idols manage to weasel their way into the center of our hearts without our awareness of their presence.
 
N.T. Wright notes in his commentary on this passage that idols often whisper in our ears, and it’s easier to return to old, familiar ways.
It’s much harder to follow Jesus.  Following Jesus is challenging, life-changing, incredible, wonderful, and amazing as Jesus calls us to follow Him, even to the cross.
But to return to our old sinful habits denies the freedom that Jesus won for us on the cross.
 
God has acted; we have tasted the effect of that action.  If we go back now, we are denying not only ourselves and our Christian experience, but God himself (N.T. Wright).[1]
 
One more thought comes to mind for me from this passage.  From C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity:
He [Jesus] never talked vague, idealistic gas.  When he said, “Be Perfect,” He meant it.  He meant that we must go in for the full treatment.
It is hard; but the sort of compromise we are all hankering after is harder—in fact, it is impossible.  It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird; it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. 
We are like eggs at present.  And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg.  We must be hatched or go bad.[2]
 
Your old sinful ways or freedom in Christ?  Be hatched or go bad?  Which direction are you headed in?
 
God bless you and know that you are constantly in my prayers.
Scott