Take a moment to read 1 Corinthians 7:20-28 before reading the devotional below.
Freedom is a tricky idea. Can you be free in one area of life while still trapped in another? If you are enslaved, what does it mean to live freely in Christ? Often, we think that in order to live in the freedom Jesus offers us, we have to change our circumstances. In today’s passage, Paul makes it clear that that is not the case.
The time right after Jesus was a challenging time as the church was just forming. Paul encourages everyone to hold tight and not try to change a whole bunch of circumstances in a hasty effort to be a Jesus-follower. Instead, he encourages us to live a godly life in the midst of our circumstances.
Here’s your freedom for today:
Your earthly situation does not define you.
Regardless of the situation you find yourself in today, you can live a free life. Your circumstances changing doesn’t guarantee that you will be more free. Paul is pointing us to an important truth: freedom happens when you encounter the Holy Spirit. You can live freely even in bad circumstances, because true freedom happens deep in your soul. Certainly, if you are able to get free in an earthly sense as well, do it. But if you are powerless over your situation, find freedom in it. This is truly a supernatural act and you can’t do it yourself. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how to live your free life right now even as you wait for a way out.