For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” - Galatians 5:13-14

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. - 1 Peter 2:16

Devotion:

Freedom is a common topic around the Fourth of July. It’s a time when we celebrate our country’s independence and the freedoms we have because of it. I’m very thankful for those freedoms and the sacrifices people have made and continue to make for them. Take a little bit of time to think through some of the freedoms that allow you to freely live out your life as a Christ-follower. Thank God for those freedoms and pray for those who are persecuted because of their faith.

Freedom can mean different things in various contexts. To help draw out the default context of freedom, we can examine the opposite. The opposite of freedom can be thought of as a prisoner or someone enslaved or mastered by something or someone. Therefore, freedom in the eyes of most people would be out of prison and not submitting to another authority. You are free to make your own choices and do what you want. 

Freedom in the context of Christianity is almost counter to the ideas of being your own boss or master. We find freedom in Christ through making him our Lord and Savior. This is the Good News: we are free from the law and the consequences of our sin. We are no longer mastered by sin or our own fleshly nature. We have a much better master in Jesus who treats us as children adopted into his family, which is why we call him Father (Ephesians 1:5). 

How should we live our lives now that we are free from the law and from sin? Galatians 5 tells us to love our neighbors instead of fulfilling our own desires. 1 Peter 2 tells us to live as servants of God. This might seem paradoxical to what freedom is, but for those who are being led by Christ, it is where we find true joy. We have the freedom to live however we want, and our desire for God will be demonstrated by our love for others. So let us use our freedom in Christ out of the overflow of joy in our hearts to love others the way Jesus did. 

PRAYER

Our Father, thank you for freeing me from being mastered by the consequences of sin. Thank you for the work you did on the cross through your death and resurrection to pay a debt I could never fulfill. Help me remember this Good News, to use the freedom you provided to live as a servant. Reveal the areas of my life I’m using to love only myself and, help me release those to you. Lord, show me how to live for you out of the overflow of joy and not obligation by reminding me of what I’ve been freed from so I don’t return to it. In your name, I pray, Jesus. Amen. 

Michael Foster
Pastor, Connection Ministries - OKC

Michael has served on staff in various capacities throughout the years from IT to pastoral roles and volunteering in Kids ministries. His joy is to see people in the church grow in their faith and trust in God so they can walk it out in their everyday lives. 

Resources

• Listen to No Longer Slaves by Zach Williams 
• Listen to Death Was Arrested by North Point Music
• Watch Be Free from Senior Pastor Marty Grubbs

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