Tag: Bible

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Day 5 – 21 Days to Freedom

Galatians 5:11-12 (NLT)

“Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!”

Sometimes the Bible is inappropriate. Imagine sitting in church and the pastor says, “If you think that circumcision gets you closer to God, you should go all the way and chop your penis right off!” Oh yes, Paul did just say that. And you might be wondering how we got on this subject in the first place. Weren’t we on a nice track talking about emotional freedom and the Holy Spirit?

We’re still on track, and the message behind all the penis talk is simple: Go all in or don’t bother trying. As we see from verse 11, Paul and the other leaders of the early church were risking their lives on a daily basis. You don’t get much more “all in” than that kind of dedication. Paul gets frustrated with their petty and foolish thinking about rituals in order to get right with God. He challenges them on their hearts — if you really believed that circumcision was getting you closer to God then why wouldn’t you at least be wholehearted about it?

Here’s your freedom for today: emotional and spiritual freedom is found in living by the Spirit, not by doing a bunch of earthly steps to “prove” your devotion.

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Here’s your freedom for today: emotional and spiritual freedom is found in living by the Spirit, not by doing a bunch of earthly steps to “prove” your devotion. Anything you do out of pure conviction from the Spirit will be wholehearted. And it is when our hearts are whole that we find true freedom. What are you going after with your whole heart today?

It is when our hearts are whole that we find true freedom.

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Day 4 – 21 Days to Freedom

Galatians 5:7-10 (NLT)

“You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth?  It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom. This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough! I am trusting the Lord to keep you from believing false teachings. God will judge that person, whoever he is, who has been confusing you.”

Have you ever been doing pretty well in life, going along just fine until you suddenly get thrown off course? Maybe you thought, “I was doing so well! What happened??” If the Galatians were with us today they would feel your pain. They had received the good news about Jesus being the pathway to God and were off and running strong. But then they got distracted — swept up by fear and old ways of thinking. “What if we are supposed to keep following the law? What if Jesus is just part of the answer?”

Anytime we find ourselves with a Jesus plus _____________ scenario we are off track. For us, it might be Jesus plus self-reliance, or Jesus plus my bank account, or Jesus plus what others think of me. How quickly that wrong thinking disrupts our whole lives. And this passage assures us that our non-free thinking is not from God — he is the one who set us free in the first place!

Here’s your freedom for today: God is paying attention to you, making sure that you stay in the middle of his grace.

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Here’s your freedom for today: God is paying attention to you, making sure that you stay in the middle of his grace. The people and things that add to false thinking in your life are not on God’s favorites list… He wants you to be free and frankly he’s kind of mad at whatever robs you from living a free life. But notice that phrase, “he will keep you…” He is willing and able to protect your mind from the slavery to the “shoulds” and the “musts.” We just need to ask and trust that he will guide us in his grace as we turn to him daily.

God is willing and able to protect your mind from the slavery to the “shoulds” and the “musts.”

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Day 3 – 21 Days to Freedom

Galatians 5:5-6 (NLT)

“But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love.”

When we get rid of the extra rules we’ve added on to our “good Christian” lives (see yesterday’s post), we enter into a new kind of living. Instead of rules we have a soft, moldable heart in which the Spirit can dwell. Basically the best thing to do to get close to God is turn into a mushy mess.

If rules can’t save us, and in fact make our lives so much worse, then we have to turn to something else to make our messed up lives right. The word “righteousness” means “to be made morally right or justified.” God has promised to make us right (so why do we keep trying so hard to do it ourselves??). The only actions that will ever matter are the ones we are invited by God to do. The prompting of the Spirit is the only motivation worth acting on. This is the “faith expressing itself in love” in verse 6. Literally nothing else matters.

Here’s your freedom for today: living in the Spirit gives us the emotional freedom to let God do the transforming.

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Here’s your freedom for today: living in the Spirit gives us the emotional freedom to let God do the transforming. All those things we grasp at to “fix” ourselves will never work. Circumcision didn’t work for the Jews, and dressing up for church won’t work for us. As we wait for God to deliver on his promise to make us right again, we can let go of all of our striving. So go ahead, pick something to let go of today. Find freedom in getting rid of at least one rule you are living by to try to be “good enough.” Feel free to post a comment to tell us what you are shaking off today so we can all be encouraged!

Find freedom in getting rid of at least one rule you are living by to try to be “good enough.”

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