Those who look like they are going to drop. Those on the verge of giving up. Those who have no answers. Those who are tired of it all. Those who want to run away. Those who are at their wits end. Those who cannot change their circumstances. Those who are weary and burdened. I have good news! This is the key verse of the Galatians letter. It is the whole thing.
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5 v 1)
You are free!
The enemy of your soul has nothing on you. He cannot hold you once Jesus has freed you. He cannot put you out on bail saying he hasn’t finished with you yet. John 8:36 “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
You are free from trying. Free from the lists and rules of man. You are free to approach God as you are not how you should be. Ephesians 3:12 “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”
So don’t let the enemy of your soul put conditions on your freedom. He has no authority in your life. He is defeated. There is no bail. You are not out temporarily waiting for further investigation. You are out totally.
So how do we stop ourselves from sliding from our freedom?
- We stand firm.
We stand in the truth of what Jesus Christ has done for us. This is our prayer: “Lord, you are my shield. The enemy doesn’t give warning of the attacks. I don’t see in advance where the next hurt will come from. It may happen today so I lift you up. Christ over me will extinguish whatever fiery attack that comes my way. I don’t need to ask ‘How will I make it through?’ or believe ‘I’m not going to make it.’ I stand with YOU covering me. When anxiety comes it is extinguished because I have lifted Christ over me. When condemnation comes I get my shield up. When doubt rages I will extinguish it and I will keep standing firm. Just as Roman soldiers saturated their shields in water to extinguish the fiery arrows so I also ask that you saturate my life in your presence and in your promise for my life. My faith is held high and covers my life completely. You empower me to stand against every attack on my mind and heart. When I don’t think I will make it, I will make it. When I feel alone, I am not. What you have said about who I am and my situation outweighs anything anyone else says about it. You are my shield and helper and my glorious sword. My enemies will cower before you and you will march all over them. (Deut 33 v 29)”
- We resist the yoke of slavery.
“… do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” A strange sight to see a harness put around the neck of a person then asking that person to pull farm equipment. A picture we do not see and if we saw it we would call it slavery. It is wrong.
Paul uses the picture for the numerous rituals, regulations and observances like circumcision that are placed on new believers which are just incapable to be carried. “Don’t go back to the Torah, to circumcision etc. It is definitely going to make you feel you are not free.”
The yoke of Jesus is easy and light, the yoke of man is difficult and heavy.
What happened to the Galatians has been repeated throughout the generations, by the Church. We created new commandments from this verse and that verse. Biblical principles became Church commandments that if kept brought you in and if lapsed kept you out.
Many have left us because the yoke was too heavy. We don’t insist on circumcision but we insist on other things. The irony is that not one person in the Church has been able to accomplish its demands.
In the bustle of all this performance we have lost or killed grace, but we have kept the yoke, but the yoke doesn’t bring life.
In contrast, Jesus invites those who are weighed down by the numerous rituals, regulations and observances that the interpretations of the Torah inflicted on people, to come and take his yoke. To be harnessed to Him.
My life with Christ calls me not to focus on being what others want me to be, holy, blameless and a good man in order to be acceptable but to be who He has made and continues to make me.
I have found my life with Christ is about Him and not me. I feel free in that. I am free.
Missions Paul 