Scripture For Today
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. - Galatians 5:13 NIV
Whom the Son sets free is free indeed. The Lord has made us free that we may walk in the liberty of God. But that is not a license to step into fleshly desire, self-centered ambition, and self-serving actions. The Lord does desire for us to prosper, even as our souls prosper. He desires for our souls to be free and our hearts and minds to be clear of the weight of this world.
This is all in service to the kingdom of heaven. As ambassadors of Christ, we are called to love one another. We are created for one another, divine connection, and community growth. It is the world that has convinced the believer in Christ that pursuing the things of this world is more important than blessing your fellow man. The term “Blessed to be a blessing” is a beautiful example of how we are to use our freedom.
From the instructions to tithe to the parables that show us how to love one another, the Lord has made clear in His word how we are to use our freedom. Right alongside the scriptures to be merry and to enjoy life, there are scriptures to love your neighbor as you love yourself. In this way, the Lord confirms that we are indeed for love, growth, community, and prospering in his word. Not just for our own homes and our own lives, but to assist and help to grow the lives of others.
If this seems like a particularly difficult thing to do, bear in mind that our walk was never meant to be easy. It was meant to be graced by God. We are called to lean not to our own understanding, but to acknowledge God in all of our ways that He may direct our paths. Together, we can fully see the heart of the Father realized in the earth. Together, we can see the kingdom of heaven released into the earth.
Step-by-step and day by day. God has called us to pour out his love in the earth. He has graced us to be His hands and feet in the earth. That freedom which was bought by the blood of Christ through His sacrifice on the cross is not just for ourselves. That freedom is for everyone connected to us, our friends, our family, and for those the Lord has called us to, going forward.
Three Ways that we can walk this out today:
1. Operate in self-discipline.
Standing on the word of the Lord and not just going about life in our own way in our own will by following the flesh and bowing to the things of this world. Releasing idols and remaining steadfast. These are a few of the first steps that we can take each and every day to walk out our liberty for the glory of the Lord.
2. Be His hands and feet for your family
Check in with those whom you love. Maybe you haven’t spoken to them in a while. Life gets busy, and walking out the day-to-day tasks in our life can cause us to really miss out on what’s happening with those who are connected to us. This act of intentionally reaching out exercises your freedom in a way that blesses another and reminds them that God cares about them as well.
3. Love one another as He has loved us
Make love a verb in your life. Take the freedom of time and resources that the Lord is giving you and exercise that freedom in a way that blesses another. The healing that comes forth and just being seen can be the blessing that you give to another. Their liberty may depend on you fully exercising your liberty in Christ. The same way that fear often creates fear, faith and freedom will often create more faith and freedom in others.