Galatians 5:1    For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Tonight when the Lord gave me this scripture, I about jumped.  I LOVE this scripture. I love any scripture about freedom!  This one is especially grand.   Thank you, Lord!   

What is freedom?  Freedom is peace.  It’s joy.  It’s life as a relatively constant Kodak moment, regardless of the scenery- be it beautiful or ugly- because there is peace.   If you haven’t ever listened to this song, do yourself a favor and listen to it:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MbcYyOsF50.   

And what are we primarily freed from?   You got it- ourselves!  

But for now, let’s focus on the next line:   stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.   And what do we tend to do?    We certainly don’t stand.   We either run towards whatever it is to capture it or to knock it down.  Or we run away from it as fast as we can.   Don’t we?    But what does the Lord say?  Stand.    Standing doesn’t involve overreaction.  It eliminates fear from being in control.  And it means we are not breathless, not out of breath from running.   We can breathe, we can face, we can tell ourselves the truth, and we can wait.   

Slavery comes when we allow the circumstances of our lives to dictate our peace, or lack thereof.   If the circumstances are what we count on to bring us our peace, our confidence, our “happiness”, our self-worth, then we are destined to be disappointed and miserable.  Why?   Well, because circumstances are simply designed to mold us, not to provide peace for us.   Let me say that one again!  Circumstances of our lives are NOT supposed to be our source of joy or of peace. Circumstances are lousy providers of these things.  They change, they evolve, they are good, they are bad, they are not in our control- at ALL.   It would be just as logical to put on a blindfold and get behind the wheel of your car and expect to get where you need to go, safely, as it is logical to put your peace and your joy in the hands of your circumstances.  It’s foolishness!   It IS the yoke of slavery!  If we are slaves to our circumstances-  whether or not we got the job, the man, the woman, the baby, the house, the health, the whatever-  to provide our peace and our joy, then we are doomed to live a life of disappointment and perhaps even despair. Yoke, INDEED!   Our source of joy and our source of peace can only be placed in one thing.   It’s the only thing that is and forever will be consistent, unchanging and motivated by nothing other than love for us- God Himself.

Takeaway:  The only way we can experience freedom for our entire lives is  to nseek the Lord alone for our source of peace and of joy.   We must STAND in order to receive our freedom- not run toward and not run away- from reality.    Stand firm and seek truth in love.   

Prayer:  Dear Lord, please cause me to seek You and only You as the source of my peace and my joy.   Reveal what it means to be free in You and help me to let go of expectations that my freedom will come from my circumstances.   I love you, Lord.  Cause me to know Your love for me.