Called to Be Free
I was struck by a passage of scripture today.
Galatians 5:13-15 13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
We were called to be free BUT we were called to use that freedom to serve. So essentially we are to be free servants or free slaves. Often times when we think of our “freedoms” we are thinking of the things we can do that are not on some “never do that” list. Paul is saying our freedom now is that we can serve other people rather than indulge our own selfish desires. What matters is (as Paul said earlier Gal 5:6b) faith expressing itself through love.
As we think about our freedoms it is not about “what we get to do and not get in trouble” it is about the fact that the burden of sin and selfishness has been lifted so now we are free to serve. We are free to be slaves.