Galatians 5:1
A devotional
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.—Galatians 5:1
I got saved when I was seven years old. I was sitting in Sunday School, being told about Jesus and when they asked for those who wanted to accept Jesus into their hearts, my head shot up as if it had a mind of its own. Afterward, I would raise my hand anytime it was asked again. I was always afraid I would be forgotten. If they were asking for people to accept Jesus was it not sticking or something? It wasn’t until my friend’s mom explained to me that I didn’t need to be saved every couple of weeks that I understood a little more about a relationship with Jesus.
I didn’t need to be saved every couple of weeks because my salvation relies on Christ, not on myself. If it was up to me and what I did, I probably would need to reevaluate my salvation that often. If my salvation relied on me, I would definitely mess it up.
But my freedom doesn’t rely on me. Christ has set me free! In fact, in Paul’s letter, he is challenging the Galatians to walk in truth, the truth he has been talking about in the first four chapters.
As women, we are bombarded with all sorts of ideas of who and what we are, what we should be, and what we need to be doing. All those ideals should be considered bondage, slavery, and a yoke to be carried. A yoke that Christ never wanted for us. In our day-to-day life, it is so easy to get caught up in what the world is saying that we’re not even realizing that we’re being lied to. We’re not catching that trying to keep up with what the world says to do is another form of bondage.
Our freedom isn’t given to us because of the world, the news, or the government. Our freedom is given to us by God, through the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. That’s the freedom we need to be walking in. That’s the freedom we remind ourselves of when our thoughts get out of control and we try our hardest to hold onto something that will allow us to feel in control or that we have a handle on things. We cannot control our freedom because it is already given. It is a free gift. It is the gift of Christ and his work on the cross. We get salvation and freedom! There is nothing we can do to earn our freedom. Our freedom isn’t from the work that we do. Freedom isn’t from a checklist we can check off daily.
Freedom comes from Christ. The work is already done. It has nothing to do with me.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash