Driver's License
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” - Galatians 5:1 NIV
For 15 or 16 months now, my youngest daughter SG has had her Driver’s License. Thus giving her the opportunity to drive just about anywhere any time… with proper parental approval, of course.
And she has done just fine learning the responsibility of getting behind the wheel. But I can see it in her... that freedom calling. The kind of freedom that driving can give you. No longer waiting for someone to pick you up. No longer begging someone to take you here or there. No longer having to comply to car rules and radio station settings. Just her, a car, and the freedom of the road.
Well, truth is, she probably doesn’t feel all that... but I sure did. Just me, a 1973 Buick Regal, and some minimal semblance of a curfew. Ah... Freedom
As I think about the great freedom and responsibility that comes with driving, I’m reminded of the great freedom and responsibility that comes with faith in Jesus Christ... and I’m reminded of today’s passage.
When a number of Gentiles in Galatia became Believers and Followers of Jesus, there were some Jewish Believers who began to add rules, methods and conditions for being saved or growing in Christ. In this letter, Paul reminds these new Believers that Jesus died to set us free... set us free from sin and set us free from a long list of rules and regulations that bound the Pharisee and many Jewish people.
It wasn’t about circumcision and wasn’t about following the Law or custom anymore, it was and is about the grace, mercy and forgiveness that Jesus gives. True freedom is about trusting and believing Jesus... that He is who He says He is and did what He said He’d do, did and will do.
This Freedom doesn’t allow us to do whatever we want because that would lead us back into the bonds of slavery... slaves to our own selfish desires...
slaves to our sin...
slaves to the whims and desires of others...
and thus making the Gospel for not.
Responsibility then follows. As Believers... as Followers of Jesus... we have the responsibility not to pervert or change the Gospel for our own purposes, but to share, live out and live for the Truth... the true Gospel of Jesus, who lived and died and live again so that we might have life, eternal life, and live a joyful, joy-filled abundant life. It is our responsibility to live in Freedom and show the world around us the freedom that comes from a relationship with Jesus.
It is for freedom that we have been set free.
So today, as we step into our car or truck heading to work, school or the many errands we have to run, recall the freedom that it once brought so many years before...
And remember the freedom solely found in the life and blood of Jesus Christ.
Keep the Faith... Carpe Diem
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.” - Galatians 5:22-24 NIV
