Download “In the World” for May 22, 2022 here.
A RETURN TO THE GOOD OLD DAYS
“Just look at this,” said octogenarian Joaquin Diaz as he led the Cinco de Mayo parade in Saginaw, MI. “We needed this.” Diaz and his late wife, Cruz, founded the city’s parade in 1979. After running annually for fifty years, health concerns over COVID-19 caused the event to be cancelled for the previous two years. This year, with pandemic restrictions lightened, Diaz rode in his pickup ahead of hundreds of vehicles in the parade, delighting the thousands of people who turned out to watch. “It’s so wonderful to be out here again,” he said. “This reminds me of the good old days.”
A RETURN TO THE BAD OLD DAYS
The Apostle Paul had founded the church in Galatia on the solid rock of freedom in Jesus Christ. However, not long after he left, someone tricked the believers into surrendering their freedom and returning to the bad old days of slavery to sin and law. When the news reached Paul, he was baffled. What—short of sorcery or a smooth-talking salesman with something to gain—could convince people walking in freedom to voluntarily downgrade their lives and submit to bondage again? He urged them to resist the lie and fight for their freedom in Christ.
- What’s something you remember from the good old days that you wish would come back?
- When have you seen someone knowingly reject a superior solution or return to an inferior way of life?
- How do Christians today return to a bondage to law or the primitive, pre-Christian life of unbelievers?
Additional Resources
These videos and materials are for your personal use. If you show videos in class, be sure to have the necessary rights to do so.
- Music Video, Traditional: “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” by Celtic Worship
- Music Video, Multicultural: “Wait on You” by Janice Gaines
- Music Video, Contemporary: “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” by Celtic Worship
- Guzik’s Commentary on Galatians 5
- Ellicott’s Commentary on Galatians 5
- Martin Luther’s Commentary on Galatians 5