Why the foolish galatian?

In the context of Galatians 3:1, Paul was admonishing the Galatian church for mixing faith with works for the means of their salvation…sort of the cross plus their own effort to merit their own good standing before the Almighty. They did not grasp the understanding that “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” Rom 5:8. That even in our filthiness and rebellion towards Him, He still loved us enough to step out of eternal glory and die for us, His elect.

I fell victim, and still continue in many aspects, with this works-righteousness salvation. Though I know through the testimony of His Spirit and the evidence of a transforming life and mind that I am truly an adopted son, I still struggle with “earning” Gods love for me by bible study quantity, prayer quality, works, and whatever else I think will “get me in good” with God. It can be a struggle, for sure. Its yoke is thousands of times heavier than any yoke I was ever made to bear by my Lord, so that’s how I know it is not of Him but my own doing. This blog is dedicated to those like myself who struggle to put away this form of self imposed religion and to help them find their rest in the complete and sufficient work of Christ’s atoning work on Calvary’s cross.

In the world here, my name is Matthew Blair, I live in Hillsborough, New Jersey and I’m husband to my wife Rhoda and father to my two children Alexis and Savanah. I make my living as a dog groomer (yes, a dog groomer) at our family dog daycare center and am reformed in my theology. I also attend Calvary Baptist Church in East Millstone.

Besides the foolish galatian, I also administer Life With A Bible and our family business blog, Twitter page, Facebook page, and website.

That’s the long and short of me.

If you have a few seconds, you can watch my baptism below. The man you see me hugging towards the end is my grandfather…one of the two people (the other being my wife) whom I thank my God for as they were responsible for leading me to our Lord. The actual photo set can be found here. (update: Crud, I just realized I spelled “Baptism” wrong in the video…what a twit!)

Me, my wife Rhoda, my youngest Savanah, and my oldest Alexis