Galatians 5:13
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather serve one another in love.
The church at Galatia had problems with legalism. Even though Paul had taught them that they were no longer under the Old covenant laws, they had started to act as though they still were. They were teaching that one had to add works to salvation in order to be truly saved. So Paul addresses them many times through out this book as “you foolish Galatians”, and at one point says, “who has bewitched you!" They had inadvertently slighted the blood of Christ and it’s power to save and had instead depended on their works to justify themselves to God. So Paul reminds them in our verse today that they were called to be free in Christ, His blood had atoned for their sin and there was nothing they could add to that.
However, with freedom of any kind comes responsibility. Even though we are free in Christ, we are accountable to Him for our actions. Our sin has already been judged and paid for by the blood of Christ on the cross at Calvary but that does not give us license to sin. When we are born again we become new creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17), our new nature seeks to do those things that please God, yes we still will sin, but the indwelling Holy Spirit convicts us of that sin (John 16:8), and we confess it to God, as it states in 1John 1:9, and go on with a renewed purpose to live a more holy and God pleasing life.
As the last part of the verse says, we are to serve one another in love. God knows that if we are occupied with serving one another, we will not have our minds and therefore actions centered on ourselves, falling into all kinds of selfish sinful ways. Verse 22-26 tell us what truly living by the Spirit entails. The manifestation of the Spirit in our lives will bring about in us, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control. Again, when we look to Christ we see all these attributes, when He walked this earth He spent His time serving, not being served. If anyone ever had a right to be served it was Jesus! But He laid aside His right to be served as God’s Son and instead served all He came into contact with by bestowing His great love upon them. He didn’t march around everyone making demands, even though He certainly could have! Christ was compassionate with people, I have always been of the opinion that if we as God’s children can mature to the point where we have an overwhelming compassion for others, all the rest of the attributes revealed in vs. 22 will fall in line with us. When we are tapped into the Holy Spirit of God inside us, we will live a life that brings glory to God, and many blessings to ourselves and those around us!
Thank You Jesus for loving me and coming to this earth to die for my sin. I pray that You help me to serve others for Your glory this day. I love You my Savior, my Lord, and my God, Amen!