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4/4/13

Word of Beard

'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

Grace is an interesting thing. By the grace of the Creator of the universe we are able to know Him and be known by Him. By His grace we are capable of knowing True Love (Christ) and true forgiveness.

By His grace we are freed from whatever sin it is that has an exasperating grasp on our ankles, whatever it is that weighs on our hearts and minds when we're alone...we are free.

'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.' 5:1

When divine grace abounds in us, calling us to experience freedom from both the (meta)physical chains of slavery to sin as well as the man-made walls of legalism that close us off from the world...when His grace abounds in freedom we must remember that we're now freed to experience every aspect of authentic, undying, eternally divine love, not freed so as to sin in new ways (which in our flesh is always a possibility).

Freedom from sin and freedom from legalism, through the power of the grace of Christ, send us off as men and women on mission with a divine call on our lives to love the Lord and as an overflow of this God-love we then love others...and while this new-found freedom may very well be abused (which is slavery once again) in our freedom we discover the divine desire to love others through the Great Commission (and as a result discover our own worth in His sight as well).

Freedom is what it sounds like. Freedom from chains and walls and confusion and pain. It's freedom to experience Truth and Love as citizens of a Kingdom of Life.

Read Galatians 5, Ephesians 2, Philippians, Colossians 2:6-3:17, John 12-21...In fact, if you've missed the heart of the message of grace you ought to read through the Gospels and make note of Christs mission of mercy on your behalf.