Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 1:1-20, Galatians 5:1-26

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. There is a lot going on in Galatians 5. St. Paul is angry to the point of throwing things, he’s so mad about how the Galatian Christians act in response to God’s Word and outside influences that he can’t even see straight. He can’t believe that people who have heard the sweet words of the Gospel can so quickly return to trying to earn salvation under the Law.

Freedom in the Gospel is primary, here. Don’t think you need to live under the fear of the Law once you have been recreated in Christ through baptism. It is easy to think that if you just followed all the right rules in all the right ways, that life would be awesome and you’d have no problems because you were following the script handed down from above.

The problem is, sinners get in the way of that perfect plan. Satan, the world, and your own sinful flesh causes everything to flip upside down, and all of a sudden you are trying to please God by following a checklist instead of receiving His good and gracious gifts.

And that’s why St. Paul urges you to stand firm in the freedom of the Gospel. But see that freedom as a way to love those around you, not to just go crazy and do whatever you want and say, “it’s fine, Jesus forgives me!”

The Christian life is a life of loving God with every fiber of your being and your neighbor as yourself. That means living a life that honors your neighbors because they need to know the love of God as much as you do.

Freedom in Christ isn’t living for yourself. It isn’t trying to get the most out of life at the expense of others. It is living the life God our Father has given you, a life lived in love for those around you, and in you receiving the love of others for you, too. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.