Fast Day 14 Freedom by Being Doers

Galatians 5:13 “For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.” Being free is something I feel that us Christians take for granted. Thinking about all the men and women in this world who have to walk miles and miles to hear the word or live in a place where it is illegal to own a bible. Freedom with Christ is such a powerful all consuming feeling. It is something that hurts my heart to realize that people aren’t given the same opportunity to  feel this freedom like we can in America. However, there are those of us who so freely have the opportunity to walk in Christs’ freedom and still do not choose to walk in it. That's why it is our job to spread the love of Jesus Christ to all the world. In the bible the word love is found over 300 times. As we can see in the verse above it is telling us to serve through love, and God is love. So as long as we are walking this life following His calling we will be able to walk in the spirit and not  live in the flesh. The flesh is not simply the physical body. It includes the mind, will, and emotions. Are you going to live by the law, which does not have the power to help us resist the flesh or are you going to be led by the Spirit, which results in righteous behavior and spiritual attitudes? Later on in Galatians 5: 21-22 “...that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Notice how Paul is saying practice. We have to be putting to practice the fruits of the Spirit. James 1:22-24 “But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.” We need to be making ourselves doers of the word and by doing that it takes practice. In Joyce Meyer’s book, Making Good Habits, Breaking Bad Habits, it talks about how it takes 30 repetitive days of practice to make a habit. I pray that as a church we will take the word and be doers of the Word by creating a habit of imitating the Lord.