Called to live in Freedom

Galatians 5:13 (NLT)  For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.

God’s design and purpose is for us to live in freedom. This means freedom from fear, worry and anxiety; freedom from compulsive and addictive behaviour. It means freedom from selfishness and false expectations either our own or those of others. It means living a life free of control –we choose not to be master of our own lives or allow anyone else such control. Instead we habitually choose to submit our will to God. We listen attentively to the voice of the Holy Spirit and choose to obey believing God wants us to fly.  This freedom is not about being subject to our feelings but about choosing to trust God and serve others in love.  Let us use our freedom to serve wholeheartedly.

Father help us to live in increasing degrees of freedom, serving others with joy.

Cheap Grace

Luke 19:22-23

“His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?

’Over the last few years I have become increasingly concerned that God is being presented, preached about and spoken of in evangelical churches in a way which gives a dangerously distorted view of who he really is. God’s wonderful love and forgiveness are rightly proclaimed but what about his holiness, his glory, his awesome power? There are other aspects of his character that many seem almost ashamed of such as his jealousy and his anger. If Jesus had presented God purely in terms of a loving and forgiving father then I believe we might be forgiven for believing God’s other attributes are of minor importance. But in Luke God is depicted as a ‘hard man’ who demands fruitfulness. He expects us to be productive rather than waste our lives. Jesus too demanded a lot from his disciples. He told one to give up his possessions, another not  to say goodbye to his family and all of us to take up our cross daily. In other words how we live and spend our time matters to God big time. Why? Because God has created us to be 'busy' about doing His work. In terms of mission those around us need to see the difference God makes to our lives.