Add to Cart
If you are an online shopper, you are certainly familiar with the phrase, “add to cart”. We’ve all been told to “add to cart”. It is simply the seller telling us that we are not finished shopping; something else must be done to obtain the desired product.
Oftentimes, we respond to that prompting and we add to our cart. We add because it’s easy to do, and often just because of the prompt. Add from the “You Might Also Like” suggestions. They always compliment our purchase so well! Throw it in! It can’t hurt, right?
The book of Galatians is all about adding to our cart. Oh, it’s not as blatant as all that, but it is far more insidious. The Galatians were adding to their salvation. They knew, through Paul’s teaching, that salvation was a free gift of God, and that they were saved by grace, through faith in Christ. They were free. No need to add on.
But they did add on. In chapter 4, verses 8-9 tell us “Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God- or rather are known by God- how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?”
It seems that the Galatians were being taught a false gospel, and they were listening. They were attempting to keep special days and months, claiming to be saved by faith, but also keeping the law, and getting circumcised. They were adding to their cart whatever they could think of, hoping they had everything they needed.
The more they added to cart, the less free they were. Paul tells them they are being misled, and that he is in anguish for them. In verses 19 and 20, Paul describes it like this “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you”!
Why aren’t we comfortable with the free gift of salvation? Why do we assume there must be more to it? We keep rituals, laws and rules, “adding to our cart” as if that somehow supplements what God has done for us. God calls that bondage.
Our salvation is settled in Christ. We need not add to His purchase, but we can add to our own carts in the area of service. We can show our deep gratitude to God and honor Him by blessing others. Look to the interests of others, the Bible tells us. That is worth tossing in the cart.
I have recently started a small act of service in my own neighborhood. On Monday mornings, after the trash collectors have come by, I bring up the trash cans for several neighbors, all of whom have sloped driveways, and are either very sick, or have mobility issues. It is a minor thing, but this small act of service has opened up several conversations about Christ, and the plan of salvation. I have given the Gospel presentation, literally, standing over trash cans. Only God could orchestrate that. I am not adding to my salvation. I am completing the good works that Christ has ordained for me. I think of it as adding to my own cart of service. My cart just happens to include trash collecting.
Our faith is often shown in our walk, not our talk. Unbelievers watch what we do, to see if our actions really match our words.
Go. Serve. Do. Find the small, random acts of service that lead to big conversations.
Add to your cart of service. That cart matters.
~ Originally from New York, Gerry Lutzel has been a NC resident since 2017 and currently teaches in the women’s Bible study. She also serves at Guest Services on Sunday mornings.