Galatians 1:13-17 Do Not Trust in Your Own Religion, For You Are in Christ to Fulfill His Purposes

Galatians 1:13-17 For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it; and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus.
Paul was zealous before Christ brought Him from darkness into light and life. Paul was so zealous he was a persecutor of the Church (cf. Philippians 3:6), the rival to Judaism. He was so zealous that he had even tried to destroy it completely. Paul’s resume was perfect, in the eyes of the self-righteous (Philippians 3:5-6). This zeal and picture perfect life led Paul to be a sort of head of his class. Paul was good, very good. Yet he fell short of the glory of God like every other human. Paul could boast before any man, yet he had no room to boast before God; and Paul knew that when all is said and done, the only thing that matters is one’s standing before God.
When the Spirit of Christ opened Paul’s eyes to see his sinfulness before God, Paul turned from his former life, counting it all as loss, and followed the Nazarene. You would be wise to follow Paul’s course here. No amount of zeal and man-made religion is able to set you right before God. If you have never trusted Christ and you are counting on your own merits before God; stop! If Paul cannot attain to the righteousness of God, and he was a Pharisee, and absolutely only those whose righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees will attain to membership in the kingdom of God (Matthew 5:20), your merits will never cut-it before God. Repent from your self-adoring religion and trust in Jesus Christ’s perfect propitiatory (wrath appeasing) sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection as the first-born from the dead and the guarantee of the resurrection of all those in Him for your salvation. Only this can impute you with perfect righteousness before God and change your life to a God-honoring lifestyle.
For all of you who are already Christians, do not think for a second that this does not apply to you. If you can stand in good conscience and say that you do not, at least at times, strive and seek and even desire to be looked at in your own righteousness, then you need a new conscience; your conscience does not work. My advice to you is that every time you notice yourself trying to earn favor with God because of your own righteousness, repent of such evil scorning of the sacrifice of the Son of God and reaffirm your trust in Him. The more you do this, the better you will be at spotting such sin, and the more you will become truly humble before God. Remember, you will not perform a completely righteous deed in your whole life that is not even to the tiniest degree tainted by sin. We still continue in sinful flesh. In heaven your acts will be righteous; but then you will still boast in Christ alone.
Why will the boast of the Christian always be in Christ? Why is our boast in Christ now? Because we did not save ourselves. Like Paul, all Christians were set apart for God’s purposes before they were even born (cf. Romans 8:28-30). You have been saved only because of God’s fore-acceptance of you. He set you apart. He elected you. You have no room for boasting. All you ever did was sin, just like Paul.
Now, however, you are in Christ. You are a child of God. Rejoice in this! God set you apart before you were born and He saved you by His grace in Christ Jesus when it was best in His own eyes. His timing is perfect. You came to Christ exactly when He wanted you to that you might fulfill His purposes for your life in furthering His kingdom (cf. Ephesians 2:8-10).
God’s purpose for Paul was to be His preacher unto the Gentiles. Paul suffered long and hard for the kingdom of God, as it was told he would (Acts 9:16) so that Gentiles throughout the regions of Asia Minor into Southern Europe might hear the gospel and turn to Christ. God also has a plan for your life, Christian. For some of you, God’s calling and tug upon your life is for full time missions. For others, it is to be light and salt among your neighbors and coworkers and to support those whom He has called to the mission field.
You may not yet know where God is leading you, and in fact many of you will not know until you get there. That is okay. We walk by faith, not by sight. Remain faithful, pray for wisdom, trust the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and do what seems right to your conscience. But beware not to waste your talents. “For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God…. So then, each one of us will give an account of himself to God” (Romans 14:10-12). Live like this. Do not aimlessly waste your time on video games and television. Do not spend your money as if it is really your own. God has given you time and money to use for His kingdom, not temporal conveniences, distractions, and selfish-ambitions. Be faithful, that you may shine on the day of judgment. This is how you will fulfill God’s purpose for your life today.