“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery… For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness…. For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another... I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:1,5,13,16-23
Paul reminds the Galatian church of their great freedom in Christ, one granted by God but that must be guarded with diligence. Their Savior had set them free from condemnation by the law, and they needed to exercise that freedom with care to keep in step with the Spirit, heartily obey the Lord, generously serve each other, and bear increasing spiritual fruit. They’d received license not to do what they wanted in the flesh, but to honor the Lord as those who walked by faith.
God’s gift of freedom is unlike any other gift. It is the ultimate spiritual blessing that incorporates the fullness of grace at work: we are no longer bound by or to sin and its power over us, and we are able to serve in fullness of joy. Because sin’s curse is broken and the soul is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we are motivated by imbued righteousness to love and serve Him and one another.
What do our habitual tendencies reveal about our grasp of freedom? Have we, by faith and profession, been freed of sin and its attending guilt, shame, and entanglements? If so, are we living as though this is true, glad in gratitude and unfettered by the past? If we own the Holy Spirit, what evidence is there of our walking in step with Him and by His power? Having the agency to spend time and affection as we choose, where are we investing ourselves? Do our activities magnify the Spirit at work, and His fruit manifest and abounding?
“Beloved Church of Christ,
God shed his grace on thee,
Now crown thy good with brotherhood
from sea to shining sea.
Love mercy more than life,
May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness,
And every grace divine.
The Spirit’s fruit now bear,
God mend thine every flaw,
confirm thy soul in self-control,
freedom in love and law.” ~Katharine Lee Bates (1893), PEB
Oh Lord, in gratitude for freedom won, may I freely, lavishly love and serve You and others, to Your glory.
As the rain and snow 