When we think of freedom often we may think of being free to make decisions for myself, free to go where I want to go, free to live as I want to live. Howard Thurman, 20th Century theologian, and spiritual mentor to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. says, “to be free may not mean any of these things.”
Paul writes in the fifth chapter of Galatians, “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. . . The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”
Paul strives to impress upon us that Christ has set us free. This freedom comes through God’s forgiving love in the face of the many ways we all too willingly have bound ourselves to the sins of the flesh. For Freedom Christ has set us Free; and if Christ has set us free, we are freed from something to something else. Christ has set us free from all that separates us from God; uniting us, through unconditional love, with our God our who calls us “beloved.”
As we continue our sermon series on the freedom that is ours through forgiveness, let us celebrate our freedom in Christ, who sets us free through love, to love. . . . Howard Thurman writes in his book, Meditations of the Heart:
“Give me the strength to be free.” Often, to be free means the ability to deal with the realities of one’s situation so as not to be overcome by them. It is the manifestation of a quality of being and living that results not only from understanding of one’s situation but also from wisdom in dealing with it. It takes no strength to give up, to accept shackles of circumstances so they they become shackles of the soul, to shrug the shoulders in bland acquiescence.” (p.54)
For Freedom Christ has set us free. Let us not be burdened by the shackles of our circumstances, instead let us embrace forgiveness and seek to forgive; Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. I look forward to seeing you in church!
Through Christ,
Pastor Doug