Stand Your Ground. Galatians 2:1-14Never compromise when it is a matter of biblical right and wrong.For many of us, our preferred way of dealing with conflict is not to deal with it at all. We ignore it and hope the conflict goes away on its own. While there are some conflicts that may be minor enough to dissipate on their own, many do not. Some conflicts we should walk away from, in the sense of letting go of what we want in the matter.In response to opposition from some people who created an uproar in the Galatian churches, Paul wrote a letter to those churches to defend his ministry and the gospel he had preached to them and, indeed, to all Gentiles. He explained that the leaders in Jerusalem had given their affirmation both to the truth of the gospel and to his ministry focus. While Peter was part of that agreement, sadly, Paul was compelled to confront him sometime later over his hypocritical actions of refusing to fellowship with Gentile believers in Antioch.In our postmodern world the demand for political correctness and tolerance has in many respects silenced the church from speaking to critical issues of the day. The unbelieving world may not like or accept what faithful Christians have to say, but that is not to alter the church's stance. As Paul exemplified, the gospel must be declared as truth and guarded as the Word from God that it is, even when it is not popular to do so or when it means standing strong against popular foes.
