Refusing to be Brought Back In

And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. Galatians 2:4,5 (New King James Version)

At one time, the Apostle Paul had lived a legalistic life….keeping the law in hopes of earning salvation. He went to great lengths to impose that view on others even to the point of seeing them imprisoned or put to death. His life was marked with the keeping of the law as well as the traditions of his forefathers. Unbeknownst to him, he was in bondage to the religious system of his day and made it his goal in life to keep others in bondage as well. Is it any wonder that once he learned the truth about salvation and had a personal encounter with the God of that salvation that he detested the idea of ever being put into bondage again? Although he would face the physical imprisonment of jail, he refused to allow his soul to ever again be in bondage. Freedom was his through Christ and freedom would remain his.

But it wasn’t just his freedom that he held on to, it was also the freedom of fellow believers that remained his passion. For any who would come into their meetings with the agenda of taking people back into legalism Paul refused to yield to their thinking or pressure for even a moment. He knew the truth, lived the truth, held on to the truth, and made sure that truth remained untainted.

I have never been one to believe I could earn my way to heaven by keeping the Ten Commandments or being good. Salvation by grace alone was readily accepted by me as a teenager. But I knew the bondage of letting outside standards and church traditions be the basis of my “spirituality”. I knew what it was like to live my Christian life thinking I had to earn God’s love and acceptance through rules instead of relationship. I knew what it was like to be guided by men’s opinions and preferences rather than God’s Word and Spirit. It is a bondage filled with the sense of condemnation, guilt, shame, and never being good enough. It was a way of life that left me feeling that God tolerated me more than loved me. Once I learned the truth about God’s love and living out of grace instead of law, it was a bondage I never wanted to return to again.

In the course of conversations, it does not take long for me to detect when someone desires to put me back into bondage by either their words, cold shoulders, or judgmental looks. Paul’s answer is my answer. I refuse to submit to their way of thinking. Knowing the truth about salvation and also about freedom in Christ is too precious to abandon for any chains of the soul.

Father, I have known bondage and I know freedom. It is now my passion to proclaim the truth and embrace You. Amen.

In Christ Alone - Brian Littrell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKq4tJte0lQ

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.