"Obey... the One Who Calls You."

I ask for the grace to pray and meditate faithfully. I ask for patience, tolerance, compassion, and empathy. I ask to abstain from anger, anxiety, compulsive behaviour, discouragement, and self-importance. I ask to know and follow Christ more closely, seeking justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly.


Galatians 5:7-12
7 You were running well; who prevented you from obeying the truth? ⁸Such persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. ⁹A little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough. ¹⁰I am confident about you in the Lord that you will not think otherwise. But whoever it is that is confusing you will pay the penalty. ¹¹But my friends, why am I still being persecuted if I am still preaching circumcision? In that case the offence of the cross has been removed. ¹²I wish those who unsettle you would castrate themselves!


1) "You were running well;" "...the one who calls you;" "...a little yeast leavens the who batch of dough;" "...I am confident;" "...I am confident about you in the Lord;" "... I wish those who unsettle you would castrate themselves!"


2) This makes me smile this morning.  There are those who unsettle me.  Why do I let them? It does make a small part of my heart smile to think of Paul wishing those who unsettle me would castrate themselves. Perhaps a bit extreme. Better I would just stop letting them unsettle me. "A little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough." But which is the leaven and which is the dough?!? Is it a little confidence that leavens the loaf to good, or a little unsettlement that leavens the loaf to bad? I'm afraid it works both ways. It depends on which leaven we nourish. God help me nourish the yeast that comes from the one who calls us. I cannot imagine that the one who is unsettling me spends much genuine energy discerning where their yeast comes from.  Only that one thing feels good to them and another is uncomfortable. And if it is uncomfortable it has to be annihilated. But the one who calls me, calls me to discomfort the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. The problem is that in one way or another, we are all comfortable; we are all afflicted.


3) What is the invitation in all this? To hand it all over to the one who calls us.


"Holy One, receive that which unsettles, send us the yeast that leavens the whole batch of dough for good."


Breathprayer: "Obey... the one who calls you."