The ends and outs of Spiritual Freedom

Galatians 5:13-15

You and I were called to freedom; this has nothing to do with physical freedom, all of these people, including Paul were under Roman occupation and control.  This Scripture is referring to spiritual freedom, freedom from the rules of the law, and the religious rules of men, but Paul is saying you have been set free, and yet who are you; the real you, is Christ. It is easy to over look this truth that our flesh is always going to war with our spirit.  The apostle John warns us in 1John 2:15-16, to watch out where we focus our affection because the world will draw our love away from the Father.  Verse 16, “For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the price in possessions – is not from the Father but is from the world.” 

Often God has spoken to me by a message from a pastor or teacher, he has also used friends both Christian and non-Christian and often my wife, to instruct me and give me direction, for my life.  So the question is always the same, am I walking in truth, because Romans 8:2, tells us that in Christ, the law of the Spirit of life set us free from the law of sin and death.  Christ will never use that freedom to cause another to fall into sin, and neither should you and I; always remembering that our flesh is not interested in the things of the Spirit.  That is not saying that the flesh will not be religious, the flesh loves to look good in the eyes of men, but it will not summit to the Spirit of freedom.

One of my many checklists is; am I concerned with who gets the credit. Our flesh, yes, yours and mine, never want to be of service or be a servant to others unless it gets some recognition.  Galatians 5:14 tells us the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbors as yourself.”  In Romans 13:10, we are told, “Love does no harm to its neighbor.  Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”  Verse 15 gives us another watch-out, “But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.”  So we who are free must not use that freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice