Galatians 5:1 - It is for freedom that Christ has
set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a
yoke of slavery.
We begin today by summarizing what
Paul has said to the Galatian churches so far.
He confronts their obsession over circumcision and the Torah laws as
being antithetical to the Gospel.
Following the law can’t save anyone; only Jesus can. Our invitation is to believe in that truth
and trust Christ to save us and bring us into a right relationship with
God. As we all do that, we become
adopted sons and daughters of God; our
standing with God is the same as Jesus’s standing. Jews and Gentiles, men and women, slaves and
free people are all now part of the same family. This was God’s intention all along implicit
in his promise to Abraham to make Abraham a Father to all the nations. We have been freed from the law and sin and
we are freed from the divisions that plague us.
In today’s passage, Paul adds a
caution concerning this newfound freedom in Christ. If we don’t use our freedom in the right way,
we run the risk of falling back into the entrapments of sin. This isn’t all that hard to grasp as we see
this happening every day. Christians
fall into addictions of every kind. They
enter into destructive relationships.
They get caught up in the frenzies of conspiracy theories that lead to
division and sometimes even violence.
They are exercising freedom, but these expressions of freedom are
leading them right back into bondage.
Paul says that there is an alternative and that alternative is love:
“You, my brothers and sisters,
were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh;
rather, serve one another humbly in love.
For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your
neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will
be destroyed by each other.” (Galatians 5:13-15)
As you work through vast sections of scripture in both the
Old and New Testaments, it keeps coming back to one thing – love. It’s almost as if that is what all of our
lives with God and each other boil down to – love. It’s almost like all those songs about love
being all that you need are right. It’s
almost like it really is as simple as “love God and love People.” Go figure.
The kicker is that we know from
experience that “simple” seldom equates to easy and that is the painful truth
here. For the love that scripture keeps
reverting back to is not sentimentality but loving action towards God and each
other forever and ever, amen. We know
that definition of love may be simple to understand, but seem impossible to
actually live out. Have you ever
intentionally tried to act lovingly toward EVERYONE for even one day? If you haven’t, try it for the next 24 hours. Even if you have tried to do it before, do it
again until after your next sleep.
Challenge: (instead of a question today) Act with love for everyone without
exception. All day. Every minute.
Everyone. Seriously. I mean it.
We’ll talk more about this love experiment next time.
Prayer: God,
everything action you take is done in love.
Help us, your adopted children, learn how to do the same. Amen,
Prayer Focus: Pick 5
people you haven’t thought about in a long time and pray for God’s love to be
made real to them today.
Song: This is one of
those sentimental old love songs, but maybe we can hear something deeper in it
today.
Forever And Ever, Amen - Randy Travis (Cover by Endless
Summer ft Summer Overstreet)
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