Let freedom ring!  It’s time to pull out the strings on those confetti poppers, light up the bottle rockets and celebrate the country’s Independence Day!  Praying that your festivities will be fabulous with all the food, fun and fireworks your heart wants (and your pocketbook will allow).

I wonder if there’s room at your picnic table for a celebration of the freedom we have been given in Christ? We don’t think about it enough, this freedom that following Him offers. And experiencing it is a whole other thing—one that, I dare say, most Christians have access to but only dream about.  Freedom in Christ.  What does that look like and how do we live in it?

First of all, it far surpasses any freedom that our country’s forefathers fought for, though we are sincerely grateful for all who have sacrificed for it.  This Christian freedom spoken of by the apostle Paul in Galatians is different. 

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

Paul was writing to believers in the churches of Galatia.  His main concern was that false teachers were trying to convince the Christians that they needed to have and do these “extra things” to be in the faith. That there’s a to-do list beyond what the Good News calls for, which is belief in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus that cleanses sin and gives one access to our holy God.  Paul’s message:  Umm, no, no, no, no.  You can’t earn the gift of God in Jesus because it is given in grace, through faith alone.  And with it, comes freedom from things and freedom to things.

Free From:  In Christ, we are free from the law simply because Christ fulfilled the law in becoming the necessary sacrifice. Paul goes on to say that this in no way means that believers are not called to high standards of living.  We are still to obey truth (5:7) and not use our freedom “as an opportunity for the flesh” but to love and “serve one another” (5:13).  The law was, in part, meant to show us our sin and our need for the Savior and that it certainly does because not a one of us can live up to it apart from Jesus.

We are also free from ourselves.  Friends, this is something we need to grasp.  One of my favorite preachers puts it best when he says that we are our own worst enemy (and we are far meaner to ourselves than anyone else), we make the most terrible god (when we try to do life our own way), and left to ourselves, we would probably self-destruct.  The exact opposite of those things elaborates on our freedom: giving ourselves grace because God already has, allowing Him to lead and direct our daily paths without worrying about having or keeping control, and looking to Him versus all other things which gives us clarity about who we are and what we’re supposed to do.

Free To:  In Christ, we are free to walk by the Spirit (5:16) and keep in step with Him (5:25). If this doesn’t mean much to you, keep praying and asking God to show you until it does. Because it means absolutely everything, and is second only to our secure relationship with Jesus. The Spirit, when walked in, produces fruit both internal and external: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (5:22-23). Walking in and producing those things? Is there a better way to practically describe freedom?

We are also free to not be enslaved.  The command to not submit to yokes of slavery (5:1)  is actually a call to embrace the freedom we find in the power of God Himself.  Who dwells within us as believers. There are yokes of slavery around every corner and in every flip of the phone (if we still had that kind—but you get the point).  But, oh, the power of God in our weakness.  It’s freedom to: say that you’re weak when it comes to your yokes so you will call upon His name, understand your authority as a child of His and wield it for all of His glory and your good, and live your life not in chains but with hands raised and hearts in praise.

Let the fireworks off, my friends, and let His freedom ring true in and through you today.