Galatians 5:13-15 The first verse of chapter five says, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free." How does He mean "free"? Are there strings attached, conditions, etc.? There just has to be a catch somewhere. The truth is, that we can do just about anything we'd like - even to going back to the old sins again. Real freedom is to be able to choose how we are going to conduct our lives. Christ sets us free to be able to do just that. When God by the Holy Spirit comes and takes up residence in our lives, there will be some changes taking place. Rather than having to worry about whether or not we have been keeping the proper set of rules, God begins the process of changing our desires and our motivations. He gives us the ability to love Him, and as that love grows our desire to please Him also increases. The Apostle Paul gives us a few guide lines in our Scripture for today. Even though we are free - Don't indulge the sinful nature. Don't listen to the sound track that Satan is playing in your ear. To decide whether the deed is right or wrong, is making decisions based on the law - don't even go there! The only real question to ask ourselves is, "Does it express God's kind of love and illustrate His character?" If so, it is living out the new life that He has placed within us. It begins the process of learning to be the kind of person He's called us to be. He tells us that the measure of our love for each other is our love we have for ourselves. That our love for each other is be ex pressed in love motivated service to one another. You are not controlled by anyone you are serving when you are motivated by love and your goal is their wellbeing - you're free. You are not in bondage to God if you serve Him because you love Him - you are a co-laborer with Christ.

Called to Be Free.