FREE TO LOVE
Gal. 5:13-15 For you have been called to live in freedom---not
freedom to satisfy your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in
love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: "Love your
neighbor as yourself." But if instead of showing love among yourselves you
are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying
one another. NLT
There is a common
misunderstanding of what it means to live in freedom. Freedom is not a license
to do whatever we want to do whenever we want to do it. Freedom is a release
from bondage. It enables us to no longer live under obligation to those things
which enslave us. Freedom never is a life without responsibility. We must
always live within the perimeters of our freedom. Rules are always necessary in
freedom to ensure that chaos doesn't prevail. We must have regulations to guide
us and keep us from self-destruction.
Christ sets us free
from the bondage of sin and its lustful desires. He enables us to move away
from those things which keep us from God and send us to hell. Jesus frees us up
so that we can live a life of godly love instead of self-love. He frees us up
so that we become interested in the genuine well-being of others and moves us
to minister to their needs when we can. Jesus frees us up so that we can act
like children of God instead of just talk like one.
Many who claim to be
children of God do not live in their freedom. They live like they are still in
bondage. They live selfishly. They make life miserable for others by tearing
them down instead of building them up. They show little compassion for those in
need. In fact, they don't seemingly care enough to even realize that others may
be in need.
Are you living in the
freedom Jesus gives, or are you still living in the bondage of sin? Christ sets us free so that we can love
others and help them find their way to Him.
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