Psalm One Thirty Nine

Ever have those incredibly selfish"me" days? You know, the days where everything seems to be spinning out of your control and you just want to scream at the top of your lungs and beg that God show you WHY He is letting your day go the way it is? It's like if things aren't going exactly the way you have them planned, then you pretty much have mini panic attacks. Welcome to my week thus far. Well, pretty much my week- since it's almost over. The pastor at my church has been teaching on the book of Galatians for the past month or so, going line by line, word by word, outlining what it truly means to have freedom in Christ. We as believers in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ have so many cool things going for us. Not only have we received eternal life with our Father in Heaven, but He has also given us so many blessings here on earth. One of them being our freedom! We are no longer slaves to this world. We are set apart and we are co-heirs with Christ! Since therefor we are set apart from this world, we have been given the gift of being freed from the world as we know it. This is not our home, thank You, Jesus! In Galatians 5:13 Paul is writing to the people in Galatia, discussing matters that were very prevalent to them. They had not quite grasped what it meant to have freedom in Christ. He clarifies:
"You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather,
serve one another humbly in love."
Galatians 5:13 (NIV)
We by no means should use our freedom to be selfish and to go back to the ways of this world- which are incredibly selfish and fleshy and gross and just overall horrible. Let's not forget that Satan is the prince of the earth, He is real and He is present, constantly tempting us and causing us to stumble. But who gets the victory at the end of all of this? God does! Jesus does! The Holy Spirit does! So then let's give our lives glory to God. Let's be free as we have been called to be. We need to serve one another humbly in love. That means that when we are having those "me" days where we just want to curl up on the couch with a gallon of ice cream and a sign that says "do not disturb", we need to rethink our agenda for the day. Have we served another? Have we loved on others? Have we put others before ourselves? Freedom is given so that we can serve, so that we can further the Kingdom of God! I found a list of things that may help you (and certainly have helped me) in evaluating the question: Alright God, in what areas do you want to free me from so that I can serve? Take a look:

When I am free from ambition, I am free to serve with a joyful heart.

When I am free from selfishness, I am free from irritation.

When I am free from jealousy, I am free to rejoice in the good of another.

When I am free from judgment, I am free to pray from a pure heart.

When I am free from expectation, I am free to enjoy whatever comes.

When I am freed from controlling others, I am free to see the miraculous.

When I am truly free, I will see the Kingdom of God in my life.

love love love,