March 26 - Galatians 5:13-15

March 26 - Galatians 5:13-15

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. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

I would like for these three verses to be the watchword for my life.  I am called to be free, not to indulge myself, but to serve others in love.  If I attempt to hurt others with words or deeds, it will only bring destruction.

It isn’t that I actually fulfill the words of these verses, but there is nothing more than I could desire for my life than to live as God calls me … in love.

As soon as I hope for the truth of this to be real in my life, I am slammed with the realities of the world around me and see just how difficult it is for these words to permeate the soul of my being.  At every turn I am faced with a challenge and I will admit that I generally fail.

When I am attacked, I retaliate.  When I find a way to serve myself before others, I end up doing so. When I need to love and serve, I avoid the situation.

It is too easy to live as the world thinks I should live.  It is not so easy to live as God calls me to live.  Every single day I encounter situations that require me to make choices about my actions and reactions.  When I fail, I fail miserably (and sometimes publicly!) … when I act according to God’s will, it is generally quiet and easily forgotten. 

But God’s grace offers me hope to try again and again.  He doesn’t give up on my.  He doesn’t condemn me for my failures and He does encourage me in my successes, no matter how small.  He calls me to love.  He calls me to freedom.

Each of us are called to respond in love.  This is true freedom.