Galatians 5:1 Christ has set us free to live a free life. (The Message)
Donna has a young active dog named Kesia who loves to run. At home she is confined to a fenced in yard to play in, but when Donna takes her to the river, she is free to run and play with all her dog friends with no leash, no fences, no nothing... Picture her ears flapping, the excitement on her face, the big smile - ahhhhh, that's freedom!! Can you see it?
An article I read says, 'many fear freedom, anxious that people will take the removal of restrains as a license to sin. That was a real concern as long as man was like an animal. Christ changed the believer's 'animal' nature and gave us His own Spirit. We're free from the Law, not because God no longer cares about righteousness, but because we have been changed into righteous persons.'
Even though Kesia has freedom running at the river, she still has some restrictions. She must come when she's called and be obedient to her master.
2 Corinthians 17-18 in the Message says, 'And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful
as God enters our lives and we become like him.'
We have the freedom to run like Kesia, all the time, not just when we 'go to the river' and like her, we must come when we are called and be obedient to our Master. One big difference: not only can we choose to come to our Master (God), we will want to come and Keisa, may not want to come, but really has no choice because she has the law (Donna).
Nancy
