Free at Last!
During the first week of our study together, we began with an overview of the Book of Galatians. "Galatians makes an astonishing statement about Christian freedom: 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 goal of our trip is genuine freedom - the freedom that comes only through a life filled with the Holy Spirit. Such a life displays the character traits the Bible calls the fruit of the spirit."
Galatians 2:20 says "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." What does it really mean to be "crucified with Christ?" The term means identifying with Him in His death in such a way as to allow Him to live through you. Although every believer has been "crucified with Christ" in the ultimate sense of victory over sin and the grave, we must make certain choices to be crucified with Christ for victory in our daily battle with sin.
In Day 3, we looked at ten characteristics of the crucified life.
1. Few will understand
- If you seriously decide to live a life crucified to self and alive in Christ, you will discover that few will understand. More importantly, those who misunderstood will most likely be the ones you have to relate to the most. Galatians 2:20 describes a radical change that many find confrontational.
2. You must abandon your own will and your own agenda
- As long as you cleave to a personal agenda and continue to nurse your own will, the personalized daily will of God will be thwarted in you.
3. Your intimate spiritual companions will be few
4. Intense times of aloneness with God are required
5. You will be constantly on the witness stand
- There will never be a time when we are not subject to the observation of others.
6. You must go "outside the camp"
- Do not be surprised when God continually forces you outside your comfort zone.
7. There will be times when your dignity is forfeited
8. You must forego your rights
9. You must accept that death is painful
- We love our flesh and it hurts to have its desires crucified! Never misunderstand pain as permission to forego the will of God.
10. Because He was forsaken, you never will be
"Perhaps you continually struggle with the fear that if God had known some of the mistakes you were going to make and the sins you were going to commit, He never would have chosen you. Scripture is clear - God foreknew you from birth to death, yet He predestined you for His very own. It's called grace. I don't understand it either, but I praise the name of the One who offers it!"
So what does this all mean for you and me? To be totally free and live a life filled with the Holy Spirit we must be prepared to step out of our comfort zone and it may be painful at times because we struggle with our flesh.
Some questions to ponder - please go ahead and post any comments to any or all questions. I would love to hear from you.
1. Can you think of a time when seeking someone's approval ultimately proved to be a very negative influence in your life?
"Galatians 1:10 says "If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." So you might say, what does seeking the approval of man and servanthood have to do with one another. Approval and servanthood are connected because we become immediate slaves to the person(s) from whom we seek approval."
2. For you, what would it mean to seek only God's approval?
3. Read Matthew 27"32-44. Put yourself in Jesus' place. How difficult would it be to surrender your rights and not "come down from the cross and save yourself"?
4. Can you describe an instance in which you were challenge to "believe" God and He showed himself faithful?
5. In what way did the Father show His great love for you, and what does His demonstration suggest about His willingness to meet your needs?
So far I am getting a lot from this study, I've felt very blessed with each video/devotional. Can we post our comments on FB too? I know a lot of people in MOPS are on FB frequently. The one thing that really stood out for me this week was to live for Christ is to "forgo your rights." I struggle with this a LOT. I have a RIGHT to have free time, a RIGHT to be treated a certain way, a RIGHT to the product I want to buy, whatever. Meditating on this concept of willingly giving up my rights for Christ has begun to change my heart. I've been more patient with some situations this week than I normally would have been as I "gave up my right" to have things the way I wanted them. As shared in the study and above, when we fully commit to live for Christ, few will understand. Today, especially in the U.S., having your rights to your life the way YOU want it is strong. To be someone who says, "it's ok, my rights can be subordinate to someone elses" marks us as "outside the camp" and just different from the world.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right Annie! Thanks for sharing! The thing that has been running through my mind over the past few days and weeks in preparation for Christmas was sacrifice. As moms and/or wives, we make sacrifices for our family. Sometimes our loved ones understand the sacrifices and sometimes they don't. Sometimes no matter how much we might try and explain the sacrifices, there is still misunderstanding. The question that keeps coming to me is do we truly understand the sacrifice that God made by sending his one and only Son to this earth for us! Also, are we willing to make sacrifices to live a life fully devoted to the Lord? We are quick to make sacrifices in our natural lives but what about our spiritual lives. Are we truly willing to give up our flesh? Are we truly looking for God's approval and not man? Just some thoughts.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I did post the link to the blog post on FB.