DAILY DEVOTION, Sept. 14, 2021

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. ¹⁴ For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁵ But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another! (Galatians 5:13-15).

Those who Jesus has redeemed are called to live in liberty. What a blessing it is to live in spiritual freedom. But then we receive a word of caution. Do not assume that Christ set you free so you can sin to your heart’s content! However, once we have been set free from sin, we are free to reflect God’s love in serving one another. God set us free, not so we can do whatever we want, but so we can live a life reflecting God’s love. When we live a life of love, we are fulfilling the law of God.

It would seem that some of the Galatians did not get the message! They seem to be engaged in lots of personal conflicts, hence Paul’s warning not to “bite and devour one another.” When we allow anger to replace love we have stepped outside the freedom God gives to us. Paul repeated this idea in Galatians 5:1: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” Embrace the freedom Christ gives by loving one another. Love makes us law-abiding citizens in the Kingdom of God.

Gracious Father, please forgive me when I allow anger to replace love. Thank You for the freedom I enjoy in Christ. Help me to remember that You have set me free to love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.