“You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.” Galatians 5:13
We might not realise it at times, but the Christian life is a life of freedom. Before we were saved, we were not free to do what we want whenever we want – we were bound, slaves to sin (Rom. 6:17). But now, we have been set free from the bondage to sin, by the work of Jesus Christ. Now we have a choice how to live, and moreover, the ability (through the power of the Holy Spirit) to act upon that choice. One option is in fact to continue living in sin. We can choose to obey God or to disobey Him. But disobedience and continuing to live in the way we used to is not the best option: it is not pleasing to God.
We need to see sin the way God sees it. Too many Christians think that if they indulge their sin nature every now and then, they can keep it under control. But there are two problems with this: one, the sin nature cannot be pacified. It will only want more. We cannot control it; that’s why the Bible tells us to put it to death (Col. 3:5). Two, to deliberately engage in sin is to wilfully disobey God. It was one act of disobedience that saw mankind alienated from God in the beginning. God doesn’t take sin lightly, and neither should we.
As in every verse where Paul instructs his readers not to do something evil, he also gives us a positive alternative to do instead. Here, we are told to serve one another in love. If we are serving others, we’ll be too busy to be indulging ourselves. How are you choosing to use your freedom in Christ?
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