Thursday after the Tenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 20, 2020 by under
Scripture: Galatians 5:1-15 (NKJV)
5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. 2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. 3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. 4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
7 You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is.
11 And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased. 12 I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off!
13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!
Devotion
“For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”
Freedom is never absolute. The only freedom that is worthwhile is freedom from the things that harm us. No mature and sane person seeks freedom from the things that do us good. Those are things we keep, maintain, preserve, and conserve. Regarding the bad things in life, we should want to be liberated from them (not free to indulge in them); and with respect to the good and righteous things in life we want to conserve them for the benefit of all.
Not everyone understands or lives in Christian maturity, so we constantly hear contrary voices—not just from the world, but also from other people who call themselves Christians. To our dogged dedication to “obeying the truth,” they insist instead on “tolerance and love.” Dr. Martin Luther, in his own great commentary on verse 9 (“A little yeast leavens the whole lump”), offers this corrective: “A curse on a love that is observed at the expense of the doctrine of faith, to which everything must yield—love, an apostle, an angel from heaven, etc.!” (AE 27:35-39). Let all others go their way; we will stick with Christ and His Word!
Prayer: “Lord, keep us steadfast in Thy Word;
Curb those who fain by craft or sword
Would wrest the Kingdom from Thy Son
And set at naught all He hath done.” (TLH 261:1)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
