FREEDOM TO LOVE
GALATIANS 5:1-26
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.
Christ sets you free so that you will be free! That freedom is precious! Don’t use it to be enslaved again, or to indulge your sinful flesh. Instead, understand that your freedom is to enable you to genuinely love, and so serve one another humbly in love.
Law, or rules and regulations, or the “musts” in your life (I must this, I must that), can only shape you externally. Love works from the inside because love works out of freedom. Compelled love makes no sense and is a mockery of the real thing.
To exercise freedom, we choose. But to choose wisely, we let Scripture teach us and shape our minds, we choose out of love, we choose within the environment of our relationship with God in worship—in remembering, in prayer, in thanksgiving—we walk by the Spirit. And so we act (or not act) not because we must, not because we are compelled to, but because we know it is good, it is right, it is kind, it is constructive, and we have the grace and blessing of the Spirit.
Rather than live by a set of rules and regulations, walk by the Spirit instead. You cannot love a set of rules and regulations and they cannot love you back. The Spirit cares, the Spirit understands, the Spirit teaches, the Spirit trains, the Spirit disciplines, the Spirit forgives, the Spirit encourages, the Spirit empowers. The Spirit has your back. The Spirit is on your side. Walk by the Spirit.
However, the Spirit will not pander to your every desire but instead will teach and shape you so you are genuinely satisfied and in good shape to prosper as he weans you away from the harmful aspects of your being and replaces them with what will truly prosper you: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.
Everyone is different and the Spirit recognises this. Rules and regulations don’t. If we walk with the Spirit then we should recognise and appreciate the Spirit’s pace with different persons and keep in step with him as well. And so there is no competition with each other; no comparison as to who is better or who is ahead; no judging. We give each other space and freedom and instead we serve one another humbly in love.