August 27, 2024
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in selections from Leviticus and Galatians? Here’s today’s reading:
Galatians 5 (NIV)
Freedom in Christ
1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.……Continue Reading
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.
”But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.“
Galatians 5:22-25 NKJV
Galatians 5 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free”. Paul is explaining to the Galatians that Christ came to set us free, whether they are circumcised or not makes no difference, it is through faith in Christ through the Holy Spirit, Paul says the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. If we belong to Christ Jesus we have nailed our sinful nature to the cross. Those are some powerful words from Paul to the Galatians especially because they speak to us as believers as well. We will still fall short of the glory because of our human nature we still sin but we have the Holy Spirit who convicts us and reminds us we are children of Christ. Let the spirit lead us daily through his word and prayer.
Galatians 5
“For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”
Galatians 5:5-6 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/gal.5.6.NIV
Lived 30 years in religious bondage. To live this life now. In absolute FREEDOM!!!! man cannot touch. Nothing or no one can take this from me. There are no words what a gift from our lord to live every day in total freedom. To be a SLAVE TO God. Is absolute FREEDOM!!!!!! Bursting thinking of this truth
Galatians 5
Steve and Camy
Great chapter!
Yes, what freedom we have through Jesus: to know that we are accepted, to know that we are loved, to know that we are forgiven and God is on our side, etc. No amount of works could earn that, it is only by virtue of the work of Jesus and it is amazing to think that we access Jesus’ work only through faith. May none of us be influenced to think that some act of obedience could cause us to deserve such things. And yet we are never to use our freedom to justify sin, because that is another form of slavery that Jesus has freed us from. Through Him we are dead to the law AND the sin nature. And after striking a death knell to sin, Jesus then gives us access to the Spirit Who actually empowers us for victory. Now the works of sin are obvious and ugly, not many would claim to want them and there are plenty of laws against the behavior. But the fruit of the Spirt is welcomed by all and you will never get a ticket displaying them…at least not yet. May we be ones who display the fruit of the Spirit, not because we strive to necessarily, but more because we consistently yield to the Spirt’s influence
Galatians 5
Galatians 5
No act of obedience can in any way earn anything for us. Period. And in fact, if we think it can, that belief severs us from Christ (verse 4).
So, what is the purpose of obedience? Why is the Word full of commands to obey Christ? Indeed, why does Christ repeatedly tell us in John 14 that if we love Him, we will obey His commandments? Because Jesus loves us, and He wants what is best for us. Jesus knows that it is in obedience to God that we experience His blessing in our lives. Why? Because we obey? Nope. It is not in some sort of payment for obedience. No, it is because in obedience, we are living how God created us to live, and we are in alignment with His will for our lives, and in step with His Spirit who lives within us. We are fulfilling God’s intention for us in our creation, that is, to glorify God (through the denial of ourselves and submission of our will to Him in obedience – for God is God, and I am not!) and to enjoy Him forever!
Paul gives a warning here that we are to walk by the Spirit so that we will not gratify the desires of the flesh…and I love what God has done here. “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” (Galatians 5:17).
God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, has created a situation where we can KNOW what we really want. A.W. Tozer once said that each person gets exactly as much of God as they want. And God tells us here that the desires of the flesh and the desires of the Spirit are set in direct opposition to one another. So…we get what we want…and we can’t have both.
All this talk about besetting sins. What are those? Sins that we can’t quite seem to kick? Parts of the world and our former lives before Christ that we just can’t quite let go of? What kind of stuff? Like the stuff that Paul lists in verses 19-21, starting with sexual immorality, impurity, and sensuality? How about idolatry, jealousy, fits of anger, dissensions, divisions, envy? That kind of stuff? Well, Paul says that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
What do we want? Do we want God? Or do we want the world or ourselves? We can’t have both. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. But we live in the world! How can we be expected to not be friends with it? The Word tells us. Walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. I get exactly as much of God as I actually want…and God is infinite.
The Word is clear. How we live matters. Because it earns us anything? No. Because it joins us to God through trusting in His Word for our lives. We are one with Him when we are surrendered to Him, when we aren’t fighting Him. We experience His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control when we rest in His Word for our lives. Because those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified (the work is done) the flesh with its passions and desires.
Jesus has done it all. We are new creations in Christ…the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. That is about more than just the fact we’re going to heaven to be with God. It means every single thing about us has been changed. We belong to Christ now, and God is conforming us into the image of Christ, so that He might be the firstborn of many brothers (and sisters). Don’t feel like a new creation? Feel like there is still a lot of the old you sticking around? Well, God says you are new and that if you are in Christ Jesus, you crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Do not look back, do not miss the things of the old man. That man is dead. Walk forward in newness of life.
God’s grace and love shown through Jesus Christ is overwhelming.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. For we know the truth, your truth has set us free. In your Name alone we have been released. You are here with us. We are slaves no more, freedom is our hope. Never looking back Jesus you are Lord. We give all to you. Where the Sprit of the Lord is there is freedom. -Hillsong Worship, Where the Sprit of the Lord is
9“A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.”
I loved this reminder of how easily something like legalism can pervert our thinking. How it may start as a simple thought that we are “doing good” but quickly evolves into pride and judgement of others. As easily as we can be slaves to sin, like the Pharisees, we need to be careful that our sin isn’t in the name of following the law or being good. Jesus made a way where there was no other way and we follow His commands not because it is required or because we are better than anyone else but rather with a grateful heart in total surrender to Him!