When was the last time you gazed into the night sky and noticed something out of the ordinary?  For me, it was just this past week when I looked out the left window of my car and saw a very large, very orange, “waxing crescent” moon. 

We celebrated our nation’s birth this month. This holiday always reminds me of Galatians 5 and our Freedom in Christ.

Verses 1-15 talk about this freedom. It goes well beyond Christ freeing us from sin on the cross. Paul also lays out several points of “the law” or “legalism” that could cause us to lose our faith in Jesus. Grab your Bible and follow along as we walk through this.

Galatians 5:1 So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.

Those legalistic consequences are:

1. Invalidating the Cross (5:2)

2. Obligating You to Man’s Law (5:3)

3. Removing Grace (5:4-6)

4. Stunting Your Spiritual Growth (5:7-10)

5. Removing the only offense we have: The Cross! (5:11)

These things are vital for us and we should never give them up. I want you to ask yourself two questions:

What would life look like without the cross?

What would eternity look like without Jesus’ sacrifice?

This is a dark, harsh reality for a lot of people in the world. They’ve given up the cross and all the freedoms and grace that comes with it. We have to show them that Christ isn’t about a bunch of new rules for your life, but rather freedoms from man’s religious laws.

When I was in Junior High, our Sunday School teacher brought in a guest speaker. He was telling us about the time when he went to Church for the first time at age 12. His family was very poor and he only had one pair of pants to wear. This was a pair of blue jeans. Instead of being greeted with the love of Christ, he was instead told he can’t wear jeans to Church and shouldn’t come back without a suit on. He didn’t go back for 40 years. Fortunately, by the grace of God, someone was able to reach him. What if they never did? Man’s law destined him for Hell.

Any time a false teacher or fellow Christian tries to introduce some form of law to us, we should be angry. Paul was so angry he lashed out in his letter (5:12). This doesn’t mean we need to wish physical harm on anyone, as Paul was really referring to a pagan ritual that was common back among cultic priests in those days. However, we do need to feel some righteous anger and push back on these man-lade laws, rules, and rituals that cause us to give up our freedoms. We should always be validating what we hear against God’s word (Acts 17:11).

We are called to freedom (5:13). We need to use our freedoms to serve each other, and remember to love our neighbors as ourselves (5:14). And remember, we shouldn’t be battling each other, because we risk devouring each other with our petty arguments (5:15), rather than showing that love.

Protect your faith and don’t give up any part of the freedoms given to us by Jesus Christ.

Let’s Memorize This Verse: Galatians 5:1 So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.

Lord, thank you for the freedoms you have given me. Help me to remember your freedoms over my own rules. Let me never live in the consequences of falling into man’s laws. Guide me today as I lean on you for discernment for all I hear and read. Amen.

Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins

We’re all dead at some point.  Sure, in the beginning before salvation, we were dead.  But I believe we’re also near death in more than one place.  Do you ever get that stiff voice inside you that says “You’re spiritually dead.”  Do you ever explore that voice and start to examine yourself?   You should.  It might be a warning that you are.  How do you pick up the pieces? 

Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace

Jesus Christ died for us on the cross so that our sins may be forgiven and our eternity with Him in Heaven sealed.  All we have to do is repent, believe, and follow (Romans 10:9) to take this wonderful gift.

What does it mean to be redeemed?

Psalm 40:4 Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!

The Pslamist’s message is pretty clear:

• Do not become prideful.
• Do not be led astray by false teaching.
• Make the Lord your trust.

But what does that mean and how do we do this? The short answer is that we trust in the Lord.

Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

We all have something that we simply cannot shake. For some, it’s an issues with anger. For others, it is some form of addiction. For you, it might be something that you’ve been praying and asking God to take away from you, but He simply has not. For all of us, it’s simply carrying our imperfections as we follow Jesus. Paul talks about a “thorn” that he could not get rid of (2 Corinthians 12) that God explained as being weakness that would glorify God’s strength.

Ephesians 6:10-20 is the key passage that Christians lean on to protect themselves from spiritual attacks and the wiles of this world. Verse 11 says, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” At first read, this concept sounds really easy, but then you may find yourself asking, “How do I actually put this on?” Let’s take a look at this passage, each verse, and learn what each piece is and how to wear it.

The story of Luke 2 is the beginning of a story of God’s son, Jesus. If you don’t know the story, head to biblegateway.com and look up Luke 2.

On this Eve of Christmas, the birthday of Jesus here on Earthy some 2020 years ago, a song came on that made me stop and think about.

I’ve always been a fan of Kristian Stanfill. He and Passion put out some good songs every year. This one, thought, caught my attention today.

Tomorrow is the day we celebrate the brith of Jesus Christ. We’ll talk about that more in depth tomorrow. Today, I am reminded of all the things he did in his short 33 years on earth. Most of which were in the last 3 years.

Listen to the song if you haven’t, and reflect on it. He came here, gave his life for us, and went back to Heaven to prepare a place for us. How could your heart not be with His?