Free From...?

Galatians 5:1 tells us “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (NIVUK), but what is freedom?

The Collins English dictionary defines freedom as “the state of being allowed to do what you want to do”, another word for it is autonomy, which is “the ability to make your own decisions about what to do rather than being influenced by someone else or told what to do”

Sounds good doesn’t it, being allowed to do whatever you want, not being told what to do?

However, that’s not exactly what Paul is talking about here.  In the context of his letter to the Galatian churches, where there was lots of in-fighting going on between groups of either Jewish or non-Jewish new Christians, he’s talking about being set free from their past beliefs and lifestyles.

The Jewish people were raised with lots of religious rules which governed every area of their life and the non-Jews were almost the complete opposite, with multiple gods and sin-filled lifestyles.  Jesus set them, and us, free from all this, but this doesn’t mean what our modern dictionary definition says – that we can do whatever we want.

Of course, we are free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2) and sin is no longer our master (Romans 6v14)

Our true freedom is found in Christ Jesus and when we have the Holy spirit living in us, we want to please Him and be obedient to Him, not because it’s a law, but because we choose to, because we love Him.

We can choose to do our own thing, obviously.  Do we choose to go to church on a Sunday morning or stay in bed for an extra hour after a busy week at work?  Do we bring our tithes and offerings to our church or save for that summer holiday we’ve been waiting 3 years for?  Do we worry about the gas & electricity bills going up or trust God to be our provider?  Do we trust God for our healing or think the worst if we get a negative medical report?

Is there an area of your life you need to set free or need freedom from?

If freedom means we have the ability to make our own decisions, then decide to trust Jesus, choose to be guided by the Holy Spirit, cast all your cares, anxieties, worries and concerns on Him (1Peter 5:7) and be set free from them.