Is that the finish line up there?

Ever watch White Wolves? For those of you that haven't had the privilege, a group of teens and their leader go on a backpacking trip, very much like us, with less canoeing. Their goal is to get to the top of Eagle Rock. They eventually make it to the top and disaster strikes! Their trip turns into a rescue mission. Before that happens they have a little encounter with a bear. Kara doesn’t want to hang the food in a tree and a bear sniffs it out and eats it. If you’ve ever done a wilderness trip, you know how important it is to plan out your food carefully. You don’t want to eat too much or too little so that it lasts for the duration of the trip. A bear eating your food makes all that planning seem to have been done in vain.

[Galatians 2:1-2: Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain.]

In the last few verses of chapter 1, Paul has explained why he has any power to speak about this whole issue regarding the Gentiles and circumcision and the Law. Now the beginning of chapter 2, he’s telling us what he did about the situation. There are two things that standout to me.

The first thing is the parenthetical comment in verse 2. Paul went to Jerusalem to talk and he sought out the people who were influential and talked to them privately. He didn’t go make a scene and get into a huge public debate. He didn’t protest and post on facebook to get supporters for his cause. No, he went privately to address the issue. I don’t know about you, but I don’t always just go quietly and talk to people who are influential in a situation I have issue with. I think Paul’s honest and humble approach to the situation is something we could all learn from.

The second thing that stands out to me is Paul explaining why he’s doing this in the end of verse 2. He wants to make sure that the effort he has put forth in proclaiming the Gospel to the Gentiles hasn’t been in vain. If he’s got this whole thing wrong, he’s been preaching a false gospel for the past few years and so he wants some clarification.

We all want to have purpose. We want to know that out lives matter. We don’t want to spend years of our lives doing something to find out it was all in vain.

Paul’s life was radically different because of his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus. He’s been running the race of life proclaiming the Gospel. He runs with purpose. We should do the same. Make sure the things that you are focused on are the things that truly matter. Don’t run in vain.

1. How do you generally handle situations in which you disagree with someone?

2. …in order to make sure I was not _______________ in vain.

3. Are you running in vain or are you running with a purpose?

4. Take a minute and journal your thoughts about this passage: