“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” (Galatians 5:13)

Anyone who served in the military can confirm the idea that there is a cost to having freedom. There is nothing free about it. Yet, when we think about the idea of freedom we often gravitate to these thoughts of complete self-governance. Saying things like, “I am free so I can do as I please.” In today’s scripture verse, Paul puts out a stern warning not to let their newly found freedom – paid for by the blood of Christ Jesus – distort the truth about the gospel message. Jesus did all the heavy lifting, He became the payment for the sins of the world, and Jesus will come again to establish God’s New Jerusalem. So the freedom we have we did not earn, nor do we have any claims to the merit of its design. Our freedom, through the work of Jesus on the cross, has aligned us to Him who has freed us. Jesus didn’t clean the stain of our sins, all so we can go out and do it again. No, our freedom was bought for us because we couldn’t do it ourselves. And because we couldn’t do it on our own, we are to appreciate the gift God gave us all the more. The savior; the one with all the power and authority; God, who had every right to collect on the wrong doing of His creation; showed mercy and forbearance; sent His son for our salvation. Our freedom is the result of God’s work and we are to worship Him because of it. And as Paul wrote to conclude this verse, may we find the humbleness in the fact that what we have was given to us by the work of God – Jesus our savior. And may we use His acts as the example to emulate – showing love and humbly serving one another.