Freedom
For freedom Christ has set
us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Listen! I, Paul, am
telling you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no
benefit to you. Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised
that he is obliged to obey the entire law. You who want to be justified by the
law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For
through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision
counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love.
Galatians
5:1-6
Live by the Spirit, I say,
and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is
opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for
these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But
if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of
the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry,
sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions,
envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I
warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of
God.
Galatians
5:16-21
Freedom is dangerous in
the hands of those who don’t know how to use it. That’s why criminals are
confined in prisons with barbed wire, steel bars, and concrete barriers. Or
consider a campfire that is allowed to spread in a dry forest. It quickly
becomes a blazing inferno. Unchecked freedom can create chaos.
In the Christian life,
believers are free from the law’s curse, its penalty, and its guilt-producing
power. Fear, anxiety, and guilt are replaced by peace, forgiveness, and
liberty. Here is where we often fail. We use freedom’s luxury to live
selfishly, or we claim ownership of what God has merely entrusted to us. We slip
into patterns of self-indulgent living, especially in affluent societies.
Like a raging fire,
freedom without limits is dangerous. But when controlled, it is a blessing to
all.
Freedom
doesn’t give us the
right to do what we please,
but
to do what pleases God.
Our Daily Bread – July 4, 2009