Reading Galatians 5 & taking notes

Free in Jesus

Jesus has set us free. We are cautioned to stay free and not get caught up in being a slave to law. It is not by following law we are right in God’s eyes; it is by faith in Jesus Christ and belief that He paid the price for our sin through His death and resurrection.

To try and find favor with God by following religious rules cuts us off from Christ. It is a falling away from God’s grace.

Live by the Spirit! Placing faith in Jesus Christ is accepting there is NO benefit from succeeding at following religious rules.

Galatians 5:6 (three versions) – “…What is important is faith expressing itself in love.”

“The only thing that matters is that we believe in Christ. As a result we will love others in the way that we live.”

“What makes a difference is faith energized by love.”

I love that last version of Galatians 5:6b: faith energized by love. It is the Voice, which is a combination of translation and paraphrase. A hybrid. The publication is considered a “dynamic translation” that is thought-for-thought. Sometimes I like to read certain passages from it because I love the expressive and sometimes poetic language used. I customarily hold verses from the Voice up to other, more literal translations for reference.

But the concept that my faith is energized by love is beautiful to me. That love is straight from the source–Jesus. And it is this Jesus-love that energizes me to love others and remain focused on maintaining a faith that looks like it did when I first believed. That moment I was free. This moment I am still free.

I got free, I stay free. It’s that simple for me.

Freely energized & loved Jesus girl.

God calls us to freedom. Humans sometimes hold us back from freedom, convincing us we need to do this or do that in order to be “good Christians.” But if we are wise we trust Jesus at His word and keep ourselves from false teaching. God will judge the one who misleads others and confuses them. God will take care of the person who confused you! Remember, we are free to follow Jesus, not a set of rules.

Followers of Jesus have been called to live in freedom. But not a freedom that does what it wants and satisfies the sinful nature. It is a freedom that should be used to serve each other in love. Serve others in love!

Love over Law

Galatians 5:14 – “For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

I love so many things about that verse. Imagine how lovely it is to NOT focus on an entire law, each major and minor detail, but focusing on love.

I think of it in terms of the laws of my land (America), since I am not a Jew but a Gentile and am less familiar with the Jewish law referred to in Galatians 5. If I had to justify my standing as an American by practicing to perfection each large and small law of my country, it would be a terrific task. And I mean terrific in the sense that it would be intense, enormous. Overwhelming.

Now, I don’t live the life of a professional criminal, but I’ve certainly broken laws. And I do it regularly when I speed on the freeway. I don’t speed to a great degree, but I do often drive over the speed limit in keeping up with traffic. Hey, everyone else is speeding and I don’t want to drive in the slow lane.

But that is breaking a law. Seem minor? Maybe to some people it seems minor, nitpicky even, but if I am basing my standing as an American by following every single law to perfection then speeding would disqualify me.

So it is with my faith.

If I am basing my position in God’s family by following all His laws about human behavior–dos and donts–I’m in big trouble. No human alive has lived according to everything God would have us do.

Romans 3:10-12

“As the Scriptures say, ‘No one is righteous—not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless; No one does good, not a single one.’”

That verse might seem a bit rough, but I view it as a comfort. I accept the fact that I am in the same boat as the rest of the human race. I cannot be “good enough” to present myself to a good and holy God.

That verse levels the playing field.

With God, we all fall short.

With Jesus, we all become right. Jesus is our “good enough.” More than that, Jesus is our perfect.

Come on and Take a Free Ride

Jesus paid the price so we can have a free ride to citizenship in a perfect kingdom. Have you heard the Edgar Winter Group song “Free Ride”? I think it is more philosophical and an encouragement to look inward, but if it was about Jesus, the song is accurate. Basically it says the world is full of mountains and valleys and is confusing. Take a hand that will lead you into a promised land … come on and take a free ride.

That is Jesus. A free ride.

This is so hard for some people to accept. Nothing is free, right? Not even water and matches anymore (both were free when I was a kid … drinking fountains everywhere and free matches at many stores). But Jesus offered a free gift of being right with God.

You can be right with God by believing in Jesus!

All the religious zealots of the world say, “but… but…”

No but, just faith.

Again, I am an American because of my citizenship. I’m not an American because I follow every single law to perfection. (Would there be any Americans at all?)

Likewise, I am a Christian—child of God—because of my citizenship in heaven. And how did I obtain such a citizenship? Did I follow all of heaven’s laws? Not even close!

I declared and believed.

Romans 10:9

“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Colossians 1:13

“[God] rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son”

Philippians 3:20

“Our citizenship is in heaven. We look forward to a savior that comes from there—the Lord Jesus Christ.”

And my citizenship in heaven is based on what Jesus did for me, not what I can do for God.

It’s the only thing I’ve found that sounds to good to be true but is actually true.

Jesus is the best thing that is true.

Walk this Way

The last part of Galatians 5 is an encouragement to live by the Spirit’s power instead of the flesh. That is where the striving comes in. So salvation is a free gift and I cannot do anything law-abiding to earn it (check). And I have been given citizenship in a holy and perfect place, adopted into God’s family based on my faith in Jesus Christ (check). But now, this life remaining on earth is the place I do have a bigger role. Not a role in my standing with God (remember the check, check) but a role in my behavior here in my temporary home (heaven is my eternal home).

I can either walk in the flesh (give in to doing whatever my baser instincts tell me to do) or I can walk in the Spirit (where I am enabled to do the things God would have me do).

Maybe this seems complicated, but really, it is a simple concept. I find it easier to speak to this in terms of where I am focusing my attention.

If I am focusing on this life in this world and how I can become more happy or rich or positioned, I am focusing on what the world has to offer me. I am focusing on how to have a better life here on earth. (This works a little bit some of the time.)

If I am focusing on God (seeking first God’s kingdom as advised in Matthew 6:33), I am actually doing less tangible work because I am opening my life to God working in me and am guided by the Holy Spirit that lives in me. It isn’t me doing the hard work, it is Jesus in me doing the hard stuff.

It is a shift that can only be understood by the person who is a believer in Jesus–a follower. And the Holy Spirit is the One who gives the understanding.

For me, this understanding has come the hard way, through trials, troubles, and failures. Many years of learning hard lessons. I know one of my biggest obstacles was perfectionism. It drove me to try and do everything right. Achieve. Live up to. And when I believed in Jesus, I felt free for a time, then pressure for a long time. I had to be a “good Christian.”

Ugh! What an utter failure I proved myself to be. I simply could not—cannot—be a good Christian.

I know now that Jesus is my good. Not I but Jesus. What a relief!

So this walking in the Spirit business becomes more and more accessible to me as I become less and less of a perfectionist–rule following–I can be good enough human. I am human. The Holy Spirit in me is not. I am prone to wander from God (er, sin) and the Holy Spirit in me is not. I am lured away by worldly desires to make myself feel good and the Holy Spirit is not.

The funny thing is the more I learn to walk in the Spirit, the more satisfied and content I am. That is because the world produces troubles and the Spirit produces fruit that is better than any words I can find to describe it. The products of flesh/world vs. Spirit-walking are in direct contrast to each other.

Look up Galatians 5:16-26 for the whole text and explanation of it, but for now I will list the fruits of the Spirit since it in these verses I chose to live. As for me and my life, I will seek to walk in the Spirit.

God-grown Fruit

Galatians 5:22-23

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”

I like to meditate on Bible verses and the passage above has spent a lot of time in my mind. So much so it has moved to my heart and taken up residence. The reason I love it so much is because it is one of those verses I have experienced in life. I’ve lived contrary to the fruit produced by the Spirit and I’ve lived with the fruit being grown inside me and demonstrated in my life.

It is magical. Unattainable by humans apart from God. Amazingly wonderful to experience.

The more fruit-growth there is, the more Jesus freedom there is.

I’ve come to understand that the fruit grown by the Holy Spirit isn’t something I can work for. It is something I surrender to in order to get.

Give up so I can get.

Give up doing things my own way.

Give up doing things to make myself feel better in this difficult world.

Give up thinking I can be “good enough” in order to please God.

Give up.

And God grows fruit inside me. But it’s not that I am being given as much as I am becoming. I am becoming more like Jesus (by His power, not mine). And the fruits described (love, joy, peace…) are not things God practices and tries to be (that is a human thing to do), they are who He is.

The fruits of the Spirit are a state of being for God. I’ll say it again, they are who He is.

God isn’t trying to be loving. He is love.

God isn’t practicing patience. He is patient.

God isn’t working at being more joyful. He is joy.

And since I believe in Jesus and have the Holy Spirit of God living inside me, this fruit can become my state of being as well.

This is the journey of the Jesus-follower. (At least it can be.)

And while I spend my days seeking God (and yes, at times making the mistake of seeking to make my earthly life “better” on my own), I will remain in this mindset: Jesus has made me free.

I will not be enslaved to thinking or trying to follow any law in order to please God. I am right in God’s eyes because I believe what Jesus has done for me.

I will, however, seek to walk in the Spirit and produce that fruity life this world needs more of. Yes, this world needs Jesus. And as the people around me are seeking God or not, my desire is more and more to share with them a taste of fruit that comes straight from God. Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Gentleness.

I’ll be the first to tell you these are not my natural states of being.

But they are God’s. And I am His. And He is living in me.

And I am free to be me as I surrender Jesus who loves me and lived for me and died for me.

I am free. I’m going to stay free.