{"id":151,"date":"2023-08-02T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-02T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ellagrace.blog\/?p=151"},"modified":"2023-08-13T09:40:23","modified_gmt":"2023-08-13T13:40:23","slug":"for-freedom-christ-set-us-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ellagrace.blog\/index.php\/2023\/08\/02\/for-freedom-christ-set-us-free\/","title":{"rendered":"For Freedom Christ Set Us Free"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Weekly Devotional<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This devotional is part of a series of weekly devotionals posted each Wednesday that correlates to the Bible Reading Plan of the month. This month, the devotionals are all about Freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don’t forget to checkout a FREE downloadable bookmark at the end of the page!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the related Bible Reading Plan of the month that goes along with this devotional, click below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Monthly Bible Reading Plan<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The verse we’re looking at in today’s devotional is Galatians 5:1<\/a>, “For freedom Christ set us free. Stand firm then, and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freedom From Sin<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The beginning of Galatians 5 gives us insight into the freedom we have in Christ. According the MacArthur Bible Commentary, this freedom to which Paul is referring in Galatians 5:1 is our deliverance from the curse that the law pronounces on a sinner who has been striving unsuccessfully to achieve his own righteousness, but who has now embraced Christ and the salvation granted to him by grace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freedom From Earned Salvation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the early church, the Jews still viewed the law as a means of salvation. When Gentiles started coming into the faith, the Israelite believers placed legalistic rules and traditions on them as necessary steps to being in the body of Christ, putting the \u201cyoke of the law\u201d on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul strongly warned the Galatians that it is not through human striving in keeping rules and regulations that we are saved and that Jesus came to set us free from such legalistic requirements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a message we desperately need to be reminded of today. In a time when we have rules, requirements, and expectations placed on us from every place and person, we need to be reminded that Jesus is our only pathway to freedom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We cannot earn Christ\u2019s love and forgiveness by perfectly keeping all the rules, limitations, and expectations placed on us by others, our church, our society, or even ourselves. Christ came to set us free and completely liberate us from sin and from righteousness earned through our own efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freedom In Christ<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

He made us free so that we can have life abundantly and live under the grace He covers us with once we accept Christ into our lives as our Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we give up the futile attempt to save ourselves by our own righteousness, we are free to approach God with the holy standing we\u2019ve been given by and through Christ, instead of approaching Him in fear over our inadequacies and failures. The grace of Christ has freed us from self-effort to be pure and acceptable in God\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we fully comprehend that we are righteous and good because of Christ and Christ alone, we are free from our efforts of trying endlessly and futilely to please God. And we can be free from self-tormenting and destructive thoughts when we ultimately fail to achieve perfection or fulfill all expectations we have for ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Living Freely<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We have the freedom to live boldly and confidently in Christ, not shrinking back in fear because we\u2019ve been unable to keep every Christian rule and command we\u2019ve been taught makes us good. Not that we don\u2019t want to please God by following His commands, but we should do it out of love for Him, not as a way for Him to love us and for us to earn our spot in heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve heard it said that we can\u2019t purchase a free gift, and by living as slaves to legalistic requirements and trying to out-do the Christian next to us so we look more pleasing to God, we\u2019re trying to buy God\u2019s love and His acceptance, when really we already have it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Living Under Grace<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Below are a few things we have freedom from when we live under grace and right standing through Christ:<\/p>\n\n\n\n