Verse of the Day - weekend 8/20

Through the Bible - Psalms 105-106, Galatians 5

 

Yesterday, I shared the great, astonishing news that my son Jason's brain tumor was gone.  Jason, and the rest of our family spent a lot of time considering what that meant.  For Jason there was a great sense of freedom.

 

For years he's been walking around with a tumor, which was dormant, but always there, sort of lurking in the background, literally in the back of his mind.  His life has been pretty much normal, (actually quite more than that studying for his doctorate), but the fears, the questions, the uncertainty of the tumor hung over him as a dark cloud.  Sometimes distant, sometimes right overhead.

 

Some of us may walk around with sin and its guilt in the same way.  On our own we can't get over it.  We may put it in the back of our minds but it is never really gone and the negative thoughts come back, the accuser never misses an opportunity to remind us of the facts, of the acts.

 

But we can be free from this.  The God who heals is also the God who forgives, who gives freedom.  He takes away our sin and the guilt of it as he took away Jason's tumor.  We can be set free.  But what are we to do with this freedom?

 

Galatians 5:1 The Message (MSG)  Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.

 

For today's verse we'll go a little further into the New Testament reading for today in Galatians 5.

 

Galatians 5:13-14 New Living Translation (NLT) "For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. ¹⁴ For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

 

If you've been set free, given a new lease on life by God's healing, His forgiveness, don't be harnessed by the past, be set free, free to live, free to love.

 

I Am Free - Newsboys

 

Through you the blind will see
Through you the mute will sing
Through you the dead will rise
Through you all hearts will praise
Through you the darkness flees
Through you my heart screams
I am free, yes, I am free

I am free to run (I am free to run)
I am free to dance (I am free to dance)
I am free to live for you (I am free to live for you)
I am free (I am free)
Yes, I am free (I am free)

 

In Christ,
Mike

 

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Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace  NIV

Galatians 5:13-15

The Message (MSG)

 ^13-15It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?