Tag: freedom

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A Covenant of Freedom

Daily Reading

Galatians 4-6

Daily Thought

I had to sign a student covenant when I enrolled in a Christian college my freshman year, a list of rules including, “I will not dance, drink, smoke, or gamble.” I was a terrible dancer, too young to drink, didn’t smoke, and typically lost at cards, so I signed, but I did wonder why. After all, didn’t Paul say, “for freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). These rules did not sound like freedom.

Of course, freedom does not mean you can do anything, because when it is Christ who sets you free, you won’t want to do just anything. Some things actually send us back into slavery, and Paul mentions “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (Galatians 5:19-21). Do not do those things, he says, or they will take over your life and master you. You will not be free at all.

But there are certain things you can enjoy any time, all the time. That list Paul calls the  fruit of the Spirit. I’ve often wondered if perhaps this would be a better covenant for a Christian college: I will pursue “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). That means I can do those things anytime I want. 

A covenant of freedom. I would rather sign that one.

Daily Prayer

My God, You have changed everything about my life. I used to think I was in charge and could do anything I wanted, but I discovered that those things took over, and pretty soon, I did them whether I wanted to or not. They were in charge and they weren’t good. So I asked You to take over, and Your Son saved me, and Your Holy Spirit is changing me. My desires are becoming Your desires, and I am doing more and more good, not because I have to, but because I want to. Thank You. It’s a better way to live!

Amen

Daily Question

How well does the fruit of the Spirit–love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law–describe you?

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Free to Choose

Daily Reading

1Corinthians 5-8

Daily Thought

Once a Muslim, now a Christian, he was attending the men’s breakfast, and we were inviting him to enjoy the bacon. “You know, as a Christian, you are freed from all those food restrictions and you can eat bacon or ham or whatever you like?”

He understood, “Yes, I know. I know I am free to eat, but I am also free not to eat it. I go home to my family in Egypt once a year, and when I come up to my father’s door, the first question he will ask me is, ‘Have those infidels taught you to eat the filthy hog meat yet?’ If I say to him, ‘Yes, father,’ I will be banished from that home and have no further witness in it. But if I say, as I have always said, ‘No, father, no pork has ever passed my lips,’ then I have admittance to the family circle and I am free to tell them of the joy I have found in Jesus Christ. Therefore I am free to eat, and I am free not to eat. I choose no bacon”

There are some things more important than knowledge. “’Knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up” (1Corinthians 8:1). He knows he is free to eat whatever he wants, and what he wants is for his family to know Jesus.

Daily Thought

My God, You saved me. Not because I was good. Not because I was worth saving. You saved me because You loved me. What an amazing love, too, because I did not love You. I was not good, nor was I godly, and yet You went to death for my life. Now, because of Your goodness, I am becoming like You. 

May I love others, as well, sacrificing my wants for their needs. Make my deepest desire be to do what is good for others. May the choices I make help others choose Jesus.

Amen

Daily Question

What are some things you are free to do, but you choose not to, for the sake of your witness to others?

Posted on

A Covenant of Freedom

Daily Reading

Galatians 4-6

Daily Thought

I had to sign a student covenant when I enrolled in a Christian college my freshman year, a list of rules including, “I will not dance, drink, smoke, or gamble.” I was a terrible dancer, too young to drink, didn’t smoke, and typically lost at cards, so I signed, but I did wonder why. After all, didn’t Paul say, “for freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). These rules did not sound like freedom.

Of course, freedom does not mean you can do anything, because when it is Christ who sets you free, you won’t want to do just anything. Some things actually send us back into slavery, and Paul mentions “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (Galatians 5:19-21). Do not do those things, he says, or they will take over your life and master you. You will not be free at all.

But there are certain things you can enjoy any time, all the time. That list Paul calls the  fruit of the Spirit. I’ve often wondered if perhaps this would be a better covenant for a Christian college: I will pursue “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). That means I can do those things anytime I want. 

A covenant of freedom. I would rather sign that one.

Daily Prayer

My God, You have changed everything about my life. I used to think I was in charge and could do anything I wanted, but I discovered that those things took over, and pretty soon, I did them whether I wanted to or not. They were in charge and they weren’t good. So I asked You to take over, and Your Son saved me, and Your Holy Spirit is changing me. My desires are becoming Your desires, and I am doing more and more good, not because I have to, but because I want to. Thank You. It’s a better way to live!

Amen

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Country Dogs

Daily Reading

Galatians 1-3

Daily Thought

The Law of God is a good thing, a picture of righteousness. The problem is, our hearts are rebellious and we do not like to be told what we can and cannot do. “We were held captive under the law” (Galatians 3:23), writes Paul, and we don’t like fences.

Lucy, our basset hound, is a city dog. She stays indoors and sleeps in a kennel in the corner of my office. Lucy is a city dog and she does not roam free. She is not allowed to. She is confined, but she longs to run. Every so often, a door is open, unwatched. Lucy breaks for freedom and away she goes and does not return. Fortunately, our neighbors know Lucy and bring her home. Lucy obeys our rules until she thinks we are not looking. Unless something changes, we are like a city dog.

The Law does not and cannot make us righteous, rather, “the righteous shall live by faith” (Galatians 3:12), and through faith comes the change we need, a change of heart from rebellion to love. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20), and with faith in Christ comes freedom to live. The best obedience is doing what I should do, not because I have to, but because I want to

Faith is the life of the country dog. My cousins live in the country. Tramp, their yellow Labrador, is free to roam, and he does. Wherever he wants, whenever he wants, doing whatever he wants. Tramp is a country dog. Sometimes he leaves in the morning and returns at night. But return he does, every night. Tramp can sleep anywhere he wants, and he does. He sleeps on the back porch. That’s where he wants to be. He is happy to be home.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. ~Psalm 23:6

Daily Prayer

Father God, You have set me free from the burden and bondage of sin. Thank You so much! I am now enslaved to love, a willing servant of Your goodness and grace. Forgive me, God, when I turn my liberty into a religion of do’s and don’ts, or I turn my freedom into a license to sin.

I love You, God, not from force or fear, but because I desire You so much. I follow You, because this is where I find life, a life abundant and good. With You, I am at home.

Amen

Posted on

Free to Choose

Daily Reading

1Corinthians 5-8

Daily Thought

Once a Muslim, now a Christian, he was attending the men’s breakfast, and we were inviting him to enjoy the bacon.”You know, as a Christian, you are freed from all those food restrictions and you can eat bacon or ham or whatever you like?”

He understood, “Yes, I know. I know I am free to eat, but I am also free not to eat it. I go home to my family in Egypt once a year, and when I come up to my father’s door, the first question he will ask me is, ‘Have those infidels taught you to eat the filthy hog meat yet?’ If I say to him, ‘Yes, father,’ I will be banished from that home and have no further witness in it. But if I say, as I have always said, ‘No, father, no pork has ever passed my lips,’ then I have admittance to the family circle and I am free to tell them of the joy I have found in Jesus Christ. Therefore I am free to eat, and I am free not to eat. I choose no bacon”

There are some things more important than knowledge. “’Knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up” (1Corinthians 8:1). He knows he is free to eat whatever he wants, and what he wants is for his family to know Jesus.

Daily Thought

My God, You saved me. Not because I was good. Not because I was worth saving. You saved me because You loved me. What an amazing love, too, because I did not love You. I was not good, nor was I godly, and yet You went to death for my life. Now, because of Your goodness, I am becoming like You. 

May I love others, as well, sacrificing my wants for their needs. Make my deepest desire be to do what is good for others. May the choices I make help others choose Jesus.

Amen

Posted on

Throwing Stones

Daily Reading

John 7-8

Daily Thought

A woman committing adultery was caught by the religious leaders and brought before Jesus. How they caught her and where was the man would be interesting questions, but Jesus did not ask. Instead, they challenged Jesus, “In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” (John 8:5). Would the one who claimed to be the Son of God execute God’s justice? Jesus bent down and began writing in the dirt. Many have guessed at what he wrote, but it does not matter. He simply took his time and unnerved the accusers, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7). The Judge rendered his judgment, and one by one, the prosecution walked away. 

Only one person standing there could throw a stone, but he did not. Jesus freed the sinful woman (for she indeed was guilty) from her accusers. Now he would free her from her sin. “Has no one condemned you?” Jesus asked. She shook her head no. “Neither do I,” said the one who could have, “now stop sinning” (John 8:10-11). 

“Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34). The scribes and Pharisees, accusing the woman, were slaves to sin themselves (none picked up a stone). A religion consumed only with sin seeks only to condemn, an effort, I suppose, to make oneself better by comparison. But the One without sin seeks to set you free, “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17).

Daily Prayer

Father of grace and mercy, I have given You every reason to condemn me and cast me away. By Your mercy, you do not give me what I deserve, but You paid the penalty for me. By Your grace, you give me what I do not deserve and call me righteous and holy, a saint.

May I learn from Your grace and mercy and do the same in this world. May I be one who does not condemn, but restores. May I be one who gives grace and shows love to others, no matter what they deserve. May I love my friends and my enemies, my neighbor as myself.

Amen