I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel… (Galatians 1:6)
When we hear the words “turning away from God,” I think the first thing that comes to mind is going back to a life of sin, like the prodigal son.
Certainly, when people do that, they are turning away from God. But that’s not what Paul is talking about. The danger for the Galatians was not going back to a life of sin. The danger was turning to a life of rules.
In this case, they were being told they needed to get circumcised and follow all the ritual laws given to the Jews which have no connection to true holiness (Colossians 2:20-23).
Those laws were just temporary things meant to point them to Christ and prepare them for his coming (Galatians 3:19-25).
As Christians, our focus should be on God, not the rules. “What is God doing around me and in me? Where is the Spirit leading?”
Focusing on the rules tends to be very self-focused. “Am I measuring up?”
A life of grace is God-focused. “God is so good! His love and grace are incredible! Where is he going? I want to be where he is! I want to join in with what he’s doing.”
So let’s not turn away from God in order to follow a life of rules. Rather, let’s walk with him joyfully, led by his Spirit, moment to moment, day to day.
Moment to Moment (Bible blog) 