I am a rule keeper.
I LOVE knowing what is expected of me and if I’m meeting those expectations.
And if I find out that I’m not, the anxiety begins and I unknowingly go from being a free woman in Christ to an enslaved woman to other people’s expectations and thoughts of me. I know this struggle all too well and I’ve spent most of my life traveling back and forth from freedom to slavery and back again.
This is a burden, a “yoke of slavery” that I am not meant to carry.
If there was a group for “People Pleasers Anonymous,” I’d undoubtedly be a cardholder.
So though I may struggle in my freedom in Christ, I do not struggle in knowing my salvation rests in Christ.
I know for a fact that I cannot lose my salvation. Once I became a child of the King of kings, I cannot be “un-adopted.” No sin – no mess up in my life – can remove my salvation.
My salvation is not based on what I can do, have done, or will do. My salvation is based on what Christ did on that old rugged cross over 2,000 years ago.
So let’s get this straight: our salvation cannot be lost.
But Paul explains in this week’s verses that our freedom in Christ can, and that’s why he exhorts us to “stand firm” in our faith and not let others place a yoke of slavery or a list of rules or regulations on us as a way for us to EARN our salvation.
Paul speaks to both the new Christians who came out of pagan religions and the new Jewish Christians who had been taught that salvation was found in keeping the laws. He encourages those who came out of the world to be strong in their freedom found in Christ and not go back to their former sins that enslaved them to guilt and condemnation. To the Jewish Christians, Paul tells them that their works, their moral law keeping, also enslaves them. Circumcision, which Paul talks about in this section, was a symbol of having the right background and doing everything required by religion. Yet we know that no amount of work, discipline, or moral behavior can save us.
We are saved by faith in Christ, not by works.
“The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”- Galatians 5:6
So what should our response be to this profound knowledge?
LOVE.
Love is our response to God and to others…
- Because we LOVE God, we desire to honor Him with our lives.
- Because we LOVE God, we want to glorify Him with our actions, our choices, and extend to others the same forgiveness God extends to us.
- Because we LOVE others, we place others’ needs before our own.
Though we are far from perfect, we strive to be women filled with love and grace because of the love and grace that Christ extends to us.
May we all learn to embrace the freedom we have in Christ and may it change us from the inside out!!!
My prayer for us this week is that our lives will be characterized by Christ’s love working in us and through us!
“The law prepared the way for the first coming of Christ (3:23-4:7), but it cannot prepare the way for the second coming of Christ.”- Warren Wiersbe
Only Christ’s love can do that!
Let’s ALL Love God Greatly!
Week 5 Video:
(Click here to see the video!)
Week 5 Challenge:
Take time to pray and examine your life this week. Are there any areas that you are struggling with a “yoke of slavery,” either through a certain sin or through a legalist desire to “keep the law”? Turn it over to God and ask Him to help you embrace the freedom He has purchased for you!
Week 5 Memory Verse:
Week 5 Reading Plan
Angela, I can’t thank you enough for sharing these thoughts. I have been struggling with the verses lately. As a facilitator I was beginning to think I should give up because I couldn’t seem to grasp the meaning of recent verses. I am a serious rule follower and would be a ‘cardholder’ to the club as well. I appreciate your words today and thank God for all of the women associated with Love God Greatly!
Awe Trina! Thank you for sharing. Don’t give up we are all learning and growing together here. I struggle too at times. So I read the comentaries, pray and sometimes get wisdom from the other women in our facilitators group. Find me in the facilitators group and we can talk more Sheila, LGG Encourager
Ohhh Trina!!
What an amazing work YOU are doing facilitating one of our groups!!! THANK YOU!
Thanks for reaching out and letting us know of your struggle but also realize that when we encourage other women to be in God’s Word…we enter into a battle zone! Don’t trust those voices that tell you to give up! We all struggle at times to understand scripture! You are not alone in your struggle! 🙂 Sheila mentioned some great tips as far as reading commentaries, praying before you open God’s Word…asking Him to help you understand what you are reading and of course that’s one of the many reasons why we provide the facilitators group….for you to have a group of wise women you can reach out to for help and advice. 🙂
Thank you so much, Trina for reaching out and please know that YOU are making a HUGE difference whether you see it or not!:) Trust Him in the unseen!!!
Much love!
-Angela
Wow…our God is SO amazing! Perfect timing for this study this week in my life. Thank you, Angela, for sharing your heart and leading us to deeply examine ours. This week’s ‘Challenge’ will be…a challenge! But through His love and by His grace, I will keep peeling off those layers of a life-time of bondage in ‘people pleasing’. He has brought me to a place in life where I can truly enjoy His freedom….to the full. My heart’s desire is to be the person HE created me to be… free of the shackles of ‘religion’ and ‘being good’. He can’t love me any more nor any less than He does. Powerful Truths to jump into this week. Thank You, Father, that You never give up on Your children.
Oh Joan, I feel the same. Each week it’s been an uncovering and revealing for me. hard at times….yes but so freeing! We love hearing what this study is opening for God to do in you. We can’t wait to hear more ❤️ Sheila, LGG Encourager
I know, those are powerful truths that I step by step have to intentionally focus on as I strive to live my life in honor to God!:)
I just happened upon this site.
I have been reading about Paul.
I want to learn more and follow this weeks reading.
Can someone explain what the verses labeled “Soap” are for me.
Thank you for having this blog.
I don’t believe I happen upon them by accident.
Thank you
Nance
Nance we are so glad you found us! Each day we do a daily reading then we SOAP a few verses. SOAP is scripture, observation, application and prayer. Here is a link to give you a full description
http://lovegodgreatly.com/lgg/how-to-soap/
Feel free to post your thoughts each day along with us. And if you have any questions feel free to ask. Sheila, LGG Encourager
Again, the teaching that we are to have the “faith of a child” comes to mind. When you give a child a present, that’s all there is to it! They take the present at face value and go off to amuse themselves with it. But us adults, oh we are so different, we are given the gift of salvation, and instead of just celebrating the gift, we get all tied up in thinking there must be something else involved that we must have to do yo really deserve it, and then it’s all downhill from there. Thank God our Father knows us so well and never loses patience with us. What a great God we serve, and what an awesome Father! Thank you Lord, you are so good!
So true, Donna! We like to complicate things instead of just being thankful for them!:)
It’s hard to love others in servitude when I can’t even love myself. I’m so Condemened by the belief God doesn’t love me and not because of sin but because there is no good in me. I fail at all I do. I’ve been brought up from birth as a Christian and I don’t know how to be free. I read everyday I’m in prayer constantly. But I’m enslaved to rpthis belief that God is dine trying to use me for anything for his kingdom.