Reading Through The New Testament In 2016. Day 166. Galatians 5

Hey all! Justin here. I’ll be with you for the next 5 days walking through the New Testament with you.

Today is Galatians 5.

Why did Christ set you free?

So you could be free.

haha! That’s really the gist of the first verse and I love it. In other words, Jesus set you free so you could be free…

So, are you free?

Or have you slipped back to some other slave master?

Here’s the cool thing about today. As I write this, I am speaking at Camp Chestermere. The theme of the summer is “Set Free” and the verse of the summer is Galatians 5:1. Coincidence? hmmm.

Here’s what has been on my heart as I speak for teenagers this week: what does freedom look like?

Maybe you know of someone or have tried this yourself… Freedom is being able to do whatever I want whenever I want to do it.

That sounds like freedom right? Well, how does that turn out?

People become addicted, burnt out, lost, alone, broken. In the end that’s not really freedom.

Thankfully Paul spells out what freedom really is, twice.

Here it is:

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

and

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.

True freedom comes when our faith leads us to love.

I was thinking about that tonight. Who is the most free person you can think of? Now, how much do they live to love? Probably a lot right?

Our freedom and our love are connected. Jesus sets us free so we can love. We love so that we remain free.

So, get over this idea that freedom is getting what you want when you want it. Switch to this: freedom is that I get to choose to love everyone and I can choose to receive the love I need from God.