Galatians 4:16. Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?
Think together: Why do you think people lie to each other?
Read together: God has put all kinds of people into your life to tell you the truth—your mom and dad, grandparents, teachers, coaches, and pastors. These are all a gift from God, given to us so that we can learn what the truth is. Paul was sent by God to the Galatians so that they could learn the truth about Jesus. Jesus died for their sins, and all they have to do is receive His forgiveness by faith in order to be saved. That’s the truth!
But then some other people came along and began to tell the Galatians a lie. They said that in order to be saved, they had to trust Jesus AND obey all the rules in the Old Testament (which is impossible, by the way). Worse yet, they called Paul a liar and a fake. They told the Galatians that they had to become like the Jews in order to be saved by Jesus. That’s a lie!
Why do people lie to each other? Usually, it is a way to control the other person—to make them do what you want them to do. Paul will say that the liars in Galatia liked to flatter the people there in order to get them to believe what they said. Do you know what flattery is? Has anyone ever said nice things to you just so that they could get you to do something for them? Has anyone ever lied to you just so that you would be on their side?
We can tell that Paul is very sad when he writes today’s verse. He feels like the Galatians are treating him as an enemy instead of a friend. The Galatians were very kind to Paul at first, but now they are having a hard time trusting him. Why? Because he is telling them the truth, but they don’t like it.
Like I said, God has given you many people in your life who hopefully will always tell you the truth. But sometimes we don’t like hearing the truth, especially when we have done something wrong. But the biggest truth is that even when we do wrong things, Jesus will always love us anyway. He will always forgive us. And He will always help us to do the right thing instead.
Do something together: Have kids stand on one side of the room and you on the other. When you say a truth, the kids get to move one step closer to you. But when you say a lie they must stay still. If they move on a lie, they must go back to the beginning. Talk about how easy/hard it is to recognize truths and lies. Thankfully, God’s word is always true.
Because of Jesus: We know that God always tells us the truth.
With Jesus: We can know what is true because Jesus is the Truth.
Pray: Father, thank You for giving us people in our lives who love us enough to tell us the truth, even when it’s hard to hear. Thank You most of all for Jesus, who always loves us, always forgives us, and always guides us in the right direction. Amen.
