IBS Application for Galatians 5:13

“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.”

I feel that there’s more truth in this verse than we often realize as Believers. I feel as though we forget all too easily the fact that we aren’t condemned by the Law any longer; rather, we have freedom in Christ. “He whom the Som has set free is free indeed.”

The exact details of how and why this is so isn’t all that important as it pertains to this topic; the author of Hebrews did a good job explaining why we can have this freedom. There is one aspect of how this freedom works that I want to address, however: The love that God has called us to have for each other.

God established the New Covenant with us as the church that all people might have salvation and freedom, and this was an act born of His love for us. Therefore, it’s only fitting that a covenant born of love would require those under it to act in love. This is precisely how God always intended for us to live, and how the Old Covenant of the Law was upheld: Through love of God and loving our neighbors.

We are able to uphold our end of the Covenant  by the sacrifice that Christ made in giving up His life. We’re expected to respond to this act of selfless service and love by sharing what we’ve received with those around us. In the church, this means living out the first and second greatest commandments as we love and serve each other. We were made free to partake in the freedom we have in Christ together, as one Body.


This truth ought to be reflected in how we live our lives here at Ignite. Class 14 cannot forget that it is because Christ loved us that we have the freedom to exist in grace, love and fellowship with each other. While it may be a bit cliched of a thing to pray for, I still feel as though this is a practical thing for us all to exercise: That we remember to pray that our service towards our brothers and sisters would be done out of the same love that God has for us. This is my application for the next week: That I would pray for this as part of my morning and evening prayers each day this week.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

IBS Application for Jeremiah 23:23-24 “Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.” There is something comforting and humbling about this truth. God is a God who is always close. He is immanent in our lives, meaning He is everywhere. There are some other places in Scripture where the idea is expressed that the heavens cannot contain Him. He is never not present; there is no place in the universe where He is not. As such, there is nothing we can do to escape from God. David, in Psalm 139, mentions this idea: “Where shall I go from Your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from Your presence?” God is everywhere. It logically follows that He is intimately aware of all that we are doing and what is happening to us. I know that in this case God was addressing the faithlessness of Israel’s prophets, who were prophesying falsely i
Read more
IBS Application for 2 Timothy 2:2 “...and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” We, as Class 14 of Ignite, have been truly blessed to be a part of the Lord’s plan to build his kingdom. We’ve not quite finished our training, and the Lord is still working in us, but the reality of what we’re getting ready to do our in the field is setting in. We’re all about to step out into the battlefield, where the real spiritual warfare is happening. And like good soldiers, we need to be able to remain strong and steadfast both in the heat of battle and to not become entangled in the civilian pursuits of the world. As I write this, we’ve all just received our commission, just last night, in fact. We have the mission to go start making disciples of the nations. That much was stated by Christ prior to His ascension. But what does that mean for us? “What you have heard from me in the presence of many wi
Read more
IBS Application for 2 Corinthians 13:11 “Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.” Paul, in this particular closing statement in this letter to the church in Corinth, identifies four actions they needed to start taking if they were to start living in the love and peace of God again. As we know according to Scripture, the actions in themselves wouldn’t justify them or sanctify them in any way, but they would serve to unify the members of the church under this love and peace. These were to “aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another,” and “live in peace.” The church in Corinth had been dealing with so many problems that Paul felt to need to make several addresses to them, both in person and through epistles. It’s suggested in one of the two letters that Paul wrote to the Corinthians that he wrote more letters to them than just these two, i
Read more