True Freedom

Galatians 5:1 “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”

The difficulty of adapting to freedom is well-known in the prison community, where in some cases, once released prisoners deliberately commit crimes in order to return to the familiarity of structured prison environments. Of course, we are all familiar with the account of the Israelites who having been set free from their bondage in Egypt, shortly thereafter started making comments suggesting they wanted to return (Exodus 16:2-3). In his letter to the Galatians, Paul addressed spiritual bondage (Galatians 4:8-9 NIV): ^“Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? Thankfully, God has shown us a way to adapt to the freedom we have in Christ. To be set free from the bondage of sin, we must become servants of God and one another. In real meaning, true freedom is actually exchanging one form of bondage for another.  When we replace the bondage of sin with the willingness to be a bond slave of Jesus, only then do we experience true freedom.