“For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law can be summed up in a single commandment, namely, ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’ However, if you continually bite and devour one another, beware that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.”
–Galatians 5:13-16
“The freest man is a slave to a perfect master,” (Paul Washer).
Autonomy is an illusion. “You are slaves of the one you obey,” either of sin (resulting in death) or righteousness (Rom 6:16-18). We are but short-sighted beast, harnessed to one of two plows: the yoke of slavery or the yoke of Christ. The first is true bondage, for sin is a cruel master. The second is “easy and light”, for it is true freedom (Gal 5:1). For whom the Son sets free is free indeed (John 8:36).
So “live as free people, not using your freedom as a pretext for evil, but as God’s slaves,” (1Pe 2:16). We have not been released from shackles to chain ourselves to another vice. God freed His people so that we can worship Him (Exo 8:1). And for a season we do so in the midst of a dark and depraved generation, so that the light of Christ can shine through us (Mat 5:15-16; John 8:12). We do so as “pure children of God” when we “hold on to the word of life” (Phi 2:15-16) and “live by the Spirit, doing the will of the Father (John 6:38; Eph 5:7-10).
“Let freedom ring down through the ages from a hill called Calvary
Let freedom ring wherever hearts know pain
Let freedom echo through the lonely streets where prisons have no key
You can be free, and you can sing let freedom ring”
(Gaither Band, “Let Freedom Ring”)
Billy Neal
Happy Independence Day! God bless you all.