Free!

Free!

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

The preceding chapter and verses before today's extract speaks about the meaning and context of the freedom that the death and resurrection of Jesus has secured for us. The law operated up until Christ came, and its righteous requirements continue to apply to this day, but one major difference in both dispensations is that under the law, no grace was available to help us comply with the law. 

We struggled to comply with the regulations under the law because sin had messed up our code and DNA. We knew now the difference between right and wrong, yet we could not choose right every time. The law was supposed to provide regulated lifestyles, but it just couldn't address the problem of sin. As good as the law was, it just couldn't make a law as to how I would react to it. 

In came Jesus, in whom the law finds full fulfilment. Now, grace and strength to comply with the righteous requirements of the law were now available, and in Him, all the requirements are fulfilled. Through his blood, access is now given to limitless resources by God, and we are set free from the bondage of the law and sin. The grace is available, it is free. Jesus has come to seal my redemption and to secure eternity for me. 

In there lies a dilemma: I know now what is available; what is my reaction to all these? Would I take advantage of what is on offer, or would I ignore, certain that I don't need it? God will never force Himself on anyone, but He will always supply the grace I need to choose Him, until that grace expires, either by physical death or rapture. Then, it is too late to change your mind. 

For all who accept the gift on offer, the grace to stand fast is given. It is a daily stand, where you keep checking yourself to see where you are, and what you need to address. The discipleship lifestyle is one of daily education and experience, because if you do not guard your life, you run the risk of going back into bondage to the old way of doing things. We were saved from the past, given the gift of grace for the present and future, and sealed with the hope of eternity for the future. 

Don't let the devil deceive you into thinking you can make it on your own. God hasn't yet created anyone He doesn't have final control over. He gives me freewill, but He warns of the eternal consequences of the exercise of my freewill. I choose to stand with Christ, resting in His finished work on the cross. I choose to rest in His grace, sure that it can sustain me through these strange times and keep me to the end. How's your own stand? Are you truly free, as defined by God? His time of favour is here.