"I am fearing you not somehow in vain I have labored unto you."
-Paul is afraid. Normally, you would never be able to hang that tag on Paul. He was like one of the boldest guys ever. And yet he says it here. So actually there are two kinds of fear. This one is not the kind that will keep you from doing something. Rather, it is the concerned anticipation of an unintended and undesirable outcome. So caught up into works were these Galatian believers that Paul says he is afraid that all of his work to help them trust in and follow Christ may have been in vain. For naught. And is there any more sick and depressing feeling, to labor and sweat and invest your life in the life of another, only to have them throw it off and throw it all away? You wasted your time, and they are no better off than when you started. You are trying to help them, and whether gradually or all of a sudden, it looks like they are going back to the way they were. Or they are getting sidetracked, distracted, misdirected, misguided somehow (we’ll see what Paul thinks of those mis-guiders in chapter 5).
-Laboring in vain, running after emptiness - this is a recurring theme for Paul. We know that Paul cared greatly about people following Christ, but towards that end he also cared about how he himself followed, how he stewarded the precious time on earth which God had given him. He was seriously afraid of wasting his life. The hours and days and years entrusted to him he did not want to waste or be found to have wasted even the least little bit (cf Philippians 2.16, 1Thessalonians 3.5, Galatians 2.2, 1Corinthians 9.23-27). Such wasteful living unfortunately is rampant among God’s people. Someone has described it as the straightening of pictures on the walls of burning houses. Asleep in the light. Slummy mud-pie-making as opposed to enjoying a holiday at the beach. The false contentment of fire insurance. It is failing to care enough to run hard enough to help others get into and finish the race themselves. It is failing to follow our Good-but-not-Safe Lion-Savior closely enough and desiring Him strongly enough that we increasingly count all things as loss, as so much manure compared to the surpassing value of knowing Him and helping others to know Him. Don't waste this! Captain Miller said, don't waste this, Private Ryan. Ryan was in fact afraid that he had, that he had wasted the life which the sacrifice had made possible. In Christ, we need not be afraid of failure, per se. There is no condemnation in Christ! His grace is sufficient! But of this failure, we ought be afraid. This is failure to run, or to finish. A spiritual DNF. It is the timid talent-burier of Matthew 25 (esp. vv 24-25). Let's not waste this, friends, getting sidetracked on emptiness and manure. One thing I do, Paul said. May God give us each the grace to run with the quickness (endurance), and finish the race!
-I must confess, however, that like Paul, I am also afraid. But I am afraid that I have a long way to go...
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