Freedom

Galatians 5:1 “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”

The apostle Paul finds himself needing to encourage the believers at Galatia of their need to not let go of their freedom that Christ has given us. Moralists had come into their midst laying burdens of old Jewish law requirements and Gentile world views. The problem with these moralists was that their demands were attached to the ideas of salvation and genuine spirituality. Without these elements, the moralists claimed that the Galatians were not truly saved, or not truly spiritual.

Freedom is something we live with every day and because of this fact, we tend to take it for granted. Spiritually we tend to do the same, we take for granted the freedom we have in Christ. We allow room for sin in our lives, we also border on behaviors and attitudes that are contrary to who we are now in Christ. We have a freedom from the bondage of sin, a freedom from the destructiveness of old behaviors, and even a freedom from the demands of life itself. Sure we must still pay the mortgage, but it does not have to rule our lives…we are free.

Yes, we have moral demands upon us. We have moral demands to maintain a godly lifestyle if we are to claim the name of Christ. But some would lay upon us the bondage of requiring their moral values, their moral perspectives that are not necessarily that of Christ. They may even be good moral values, but when they become consuming to the point that they are the point…and not Christ, something is wrong.

I was thinking about the old film, “Braveheart.” Yes, it is definitely a guy movie despite the short romance sequences that show up a couple of times. Otherwise, it is mostly battles and blood and guts. If there was any question about the point of the film, Mel Gibson’s character dies with the word on his lips, “freedom.” It was about freedom and the willingness of some who are prepared to die to get it and keep it.

Keep standing firm then in the freedom you have and do not trade that freedom for a yoke of slavery. It is not the clothes you wear, not the music you listen to, and certainly not the foods you eat that make you pleasing to God. It is Christ Himself that makes us pleasing to God. There is freedom in this. But like all freedoms, we must never take them for granted and we must daily fight to maintain them. You are free brethren, live in it.