19. Free at last…

For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

2 Corinthians 3:17

But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.

Romans 7:6

I love how Paul talks so much about living in the Spirit and being dead to the power of the law (Romans 7:4) in his letters to the various churches. There is an amazing energy in the knowledge that I am no longer bound by a series of rules and regulations – how to dos. I am now free from both sin and the law because I have God’s Holy Spirit living in me.

What does living in the Spirit look like? Paul devotes a fair chunk of his letter to the church at Galatia to this topic (chapter 5). Put simply it is letting God’s Holy Spirit guide every aspect of our lives:

So, I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. [17] The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. [18] But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.

Galatians 5:16-18

We’ve talked before about letting go of our lives to follow Jesus and this is how we do it. Understanding that when we became followers of Jesus, we got the bonus gift (no, not a set of steak knives!) of his Holy Spirit living inside of us, guiding our spirits to live the life God purposed for us.

And with his Holy Spirit comes the other bonus – freedom. But what does this freedom look like? Only those who have been held in captivity can appreciate what it means to be absolutely free. Imagine walking out of a prison. The door is open, the gates unlocked, and you walk through them into a new life. No longer are you bound by the rules of captivity, but more than that, you know what captivity looks like and you never want to go back there.

Freedom compels us to live a new life of abundance. We want to be different, to make our mark on the world. Freedom is calling:

For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.

Galatians 5:13

Serving God is our highest calling and comes from the freedom we have received in Christ Jesus. Freedom gives us the energy we need to fulfil our purpose. Freedom gives us the perspective we need to dream big. Freedom allows us to live each day in God’s Holy Spirit.

Prayer: Lord, so often I don’t cherish the freedom you gave me when I became your follower, and I slip back into captivity to sin and death. Help me each day to echo the words of Martin Luther King when he cried out: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

Amen

Action: embrace the freedom you received when you became a follower of Jesus. Live free today, dream big, serve with the joy that only freedom in Christ can bring!

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