Galatians 5.13: “You, dear friends, have been called to live in freedom – not freedom to satisfy your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in love.”
I am a battlefield, but at the moment I’m winning. The sinful nature and the freedom I have in the Spirit of God are battling it out - all the time.
“These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict” (v17)
True. But I do have a choice. As C S Lewis writes, “Our [Screwtape’s] cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our enemy’s [God’s] will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”
What is asked of me is to serve others in love. That is the positive that must counterbalance the urge to satisfy the sinful nature; counterbalance in the sense that when the sinful nature rears its ugly head and tries to dominate, the thing to focus on is serving others in love. I am free in Christ!
* But not set free to sin but set free to serve.
* Not set free for selfishness but set free for selflessness.
* Not set free to misuse others but to love.
But when twilight comes again, how will I stand firm? When I look around and see no support, just the allure of sin – how will I still obey? The answer in Galatians 5 is clearly the power of the Holy Spirit. God in me. God give me that song in the night! So that even when darkness closes in around me I will still remain true and spread God’s love! And even though I may ask why I have been forsaken, I will still obey.
Michael
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