Freedom For Today

Galatians 5:26 

“Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.”

One of the things I love most about these final verses in Galatians 5 is the sense of togetherness about them. Verse 24 described what a follower of Christ is, followed by the words “let us” in verse 25 when Paul talked about following the Spirit. Today’s verse starts with another “let us” — almost as if we are covenanting together about how we will live the Christian life in community.

If we were to use this verse to make a corporate agreement about how we will follow the Spirit together, what would that covenant look like? Probably something like this:

1.  No one is better than anyone else in this community. Let’s make sure we keep that in mind and stay humble together.

2. You know my buttons and I know yours. Let’s not push them.

3. When we notice awesome qualities or things about each other, let’s celebrate those instead of becoming jealous or comparing ourselves.

How would your life be more free if you lived with others like that? How could you follow this covenant keeping it focused on connection with the Spirit rather than turning it into (yet another) rules-based system?

Here’s your freedom for today: building community takes time and intentionality, but it is how the Christian life was meant to be lived. A covenant has to be sought after and valued by two or more people equally for it to work. We can never force this type of lifestyle onto anyone else, just as God never forces his way into our lives. If you don’t know anyone who would connect with you in these ways, start by using it as a template for your own behavior as you interact with others throughout your day. Look for people who are living their life in a similar way and put as much effort as you can into developing those relationships.

Galatians 5:25

“Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”

Every morning at 5:25 a few friends and I have a Power Prayer Minute. We don’t gather, we just pray for that one minute from wherever we are. There is something really awesome about knowing that we are united in the Spirit and our prayers are happening simultaneously. Why did we pick 5:25? Because of today’s verse. Every single day I remind myself that living by the Spirit means following his leading. And not just trying to hear something from God that makes me feel warm and fuzzy. This verse says we are to follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. 100%. Not even 99.9%. Total. All. Every part.

Often people hear this and their response is, “Well, I can’t be perfect so what does this really mean?” Remember from the rest of Galatians 5 that striving to be perfect is a rules-based plan to fail. This is not about being perfect. It is entirely about living by the Spirit, receiving his fruit and letting it carry us into completely new places. Let me rephrase this verse: “Since rules don’t save us, let’s not listen to rules anymore. Let’s stay so connected with the character and nature of God that we are carried into doing exactly what he would do.” Living by the Spirit means we reject the law (or the American Christian subculture) as our Savior. Following the Spirit’s leading is our new guide for how to live.

Here’s your freedom for today: God does not resort to pressure tactics — he invites, welcomes and embraces. Some people are afraid to stop striving for perfect, rule-driven standards because they afraid they will somehow backslide if they don’t keep this pressure on themselves. What would happen in your life if you took God’s approach with yourself? What would it be like if you were kind and gentle and loving to yourself, flowing out of your relationship with the Holy Spirit? What if you were simply free to live in a way that helped you emotionally breathe? Maybe this word is just for me today, but I already feel lighter. I can carry a whole lot less on my plate if I just focus on who God is and where he’s taking me.

Galatians 5:24

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.”

We’ve just wrapped up our exploration of the fruit of the Spirit and we are almost finished with Galatians 5!

Just a little review of what we’ve covered so far: Jesus came so that we could live a free life in the Spirit, not just in heaven but right here and now. Rules are a total set up for failure, and our earthly desires will always get in the way. The work of the Spirit is directly opposed to those earthly desires and these two forces battle in our hearts and minds. If we want to access supernatural love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, we must connect with the very nature of God who possesses all these things. When we receive these things from him we can embody them through the Spirit as well.

In today’s verse we once again go beyond rules into the very core of our beings. Here’s the definition of a Christian: one who has killed his own flesh. Following Jesus means following him all the way onto a cross. I find it interesting that those who belong to Christ have done this already. The verse doesn’t say that Christians are working on this. It says you belong to Christ if you have already nailed your flesh to a cross and crucified it. I also find it interesting that in doing this I am both the person being crucified and the one performing the crucifixion.

How can it be that I am doing both the killing and the dying? Here we are confronted with the reality that we are both physical and spiritual beings. The only way we can crucify our flesh is by connecting with the Spirit to do it. We know that the flesh and the Spirit are in opposition to one another. Now we know why… our spirit, supernaturally given over to the Holy Spirit, must violently crucify our earthly desires.

Here’s your freedom for today: putting your earthly desires to death is easy when you realize they are the very things destroying you. I have no problem killing pests that encroach upon my home. I don’t feel bad, it is not hard. If I need to call an exterminator, I do not hesitate. There is no inner struggle or debate, I want to get rid of them before they make my life even worse. And when we realize that our earthly desires are slowly killing our spirit, we will have no problem exterminating them in whatever ways we can.