Galatians 5:13

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Personal challenge

When Christ became incarnate, lived a sinless life, was put to death on the cross, and rose from the grave, He freed us from the grip of sin and called us to a life of liberty. This is not liberty like we see in the Constitution which gives us the pursuit of happiness. This is a liberty to serve one another through love. We are no longer to be focused on our individualism but on the needs of others. This is our call to liberty. Glory be to God!

Galatians 5:1

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

Personal Challenge

Jesus has set us free from the bondage of sin. Technically, because of His work and the Holy Spirit that He has given us, we could spend the remainder of our life not committing another sin. However, He has also created us with free will, so we can choose to follow Him and not sin or follow our desires and sin. This is a choice that we must make over and over and over again. This is our battle in this physical and temporal body. When we do choose to sin, we can always run back to Jesus, repenting and seeking His forgiveness, then trying again to avoid sinning. Paul is reminding us in this verse to be careful to not live our lives in a way that leads us back into slavery and bondage to sin. Again, it is about our choices. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy?

Galatians 4:4-7

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Encouraging Words

“Wait a minute,” you might say, “I am not now, nor have I ever, been a slave!” The truth is that we are born into a world where we are all slaves to sin. This is because the world is still fallen and enmeshed in sin. Because of Jesus and the work that He did, those of us who follow Him have been redeemed from the slavery and set free to be God’s adopted children. What work did Jesus do to do this? He left His throne in heaven to become incarnate as a human being. He became one of us through the same process that we do. He was born of a virgin and lived a life from infancy to adulthood. He loved that life without sin, not because He was fully God, but as a fully human person He chose to not sin. He then gave up His life as a sacrificial lamb, was crucified on a cross, died, and was buried. On the third day He rose from that death and left the grave, fulfilling forever the Law of God. He destroyed the grip that death had on everyone of us and broke the bondage of slavery that it had on us. Through Him we are set free and reunited with God as his adopted children. Glory be to God!

Galatians 3:28

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Personal Challenge

One of the fall outs of the Western church breaking away from the Eastern church in 1054 and then continuing to splinter and divide since then, is just the opposite of this verse. We have ended up with people, and their churches, who claim to be followers of Christ but point fingers at every other Christian faith practice and proclaiming that they are not Christians. In the early church there was no division, there was no splintering. Slaves and free people were the same, if the proclaimed Christ. Male and female, Jew or Greek, all who proclaimed Christ worshipped together. Glory be to God!

Galatians 3:26-27

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Encouraging Words

When we were baptized into Christ, we put on Christ as our garments of son-ship and daughter-ship. Through Christ and His work, we have been grafted into the family of God and are now His sons and daughters. It is all about Him and the work that He has done to redeem us from this fallen world. Glory be to God!

Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Personal Challenge

We have the opportunity, and the privilege, to be made into new creations by the work of Christ. Are we willing to accept that change and like our lives for Him? We must be willing to follow in His footsteps and crucify our temporal selves, our wills and desires, to Him so that we no longer live in the flesh, but Christ lives in us. By doing this we can live by faith in Him trusting that He will lead our lives to His glory, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Galatians 1:10

For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

Personal Challenge

Today’s challenge is tough, especially in this modern age where we have social media and a climate of self-service. In all things that I do, I must ask myself the question, “Am I doing what I am doing to please men or to please God?” Sometimes there will be a fine line between the two with this question. Do I have something that is real important to me? Something that I don’t want to let go of? If I am pushing that forward and it is not for God’s glory and the edification of my neighbor, then I am serving myself. Is there something that I know that I should be doing, or asking those under my authority, to do, but I am choosing to not do it because the backlash will be unpleasant and a hurdle to overcome? If it is the right thing to do in the eyes of God and it is for the good of my neighbor and I choose not to do it, then I am serving or pleasing men and not God. God expects us to serve Him. He wants us to please Him. If we cannot do this regularly then we need to question if we are truly His bondservants. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!