Through Love Serve One Another

Galatians 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

We were called by Christ and in Christ we have freedom from the law. The law judges us and we have to follow what it says. If we do anything that is drawing us away from God or that is against what God says we are sinning. So we are sinners and we are saved from the law. Jesus paid the price for our sin by dying on a cross and being the perfect sacrifice for us. Even though we have this “freedom” in Christ, we shouldn’t just do whatever we want. We are under Christ still, so we should strive to follow the commandments. We may not have a conviction about something, but that doesn’t mean we should do it. If it causes a brother to stumble, then we shouldn’t do it. Romans 14:20-23 say,

Romans 14:20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.

Romans 14:21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.

Romans 14:22 The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves.

Romans 14:23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

Even if we aren’t convicted about something if we are causing another brother to stumble by doing it, we should stop. This is a process of dying to ourselves and our own desires, because of the love we have through and in Christ. God loved us, so we can love others. God sent his son down to this earth to be the sacrifice for our sins. He allowed his son to be nailed to a cross, spat on, mocked and beaten. He saved us from our sins. If Jesus can sacrifice everything for us, we should be able to sacrifice our own desires for others. We should be serving each other. This goes along with dying to ourselves. Not only do we now not do something, because it causes a brother to stumble, but we now serve each other as well. We are in the Spirit and we are serving each other, though love. We should now be grumbling because we had to give up our own desires and serve each other. We should do this with joy!

Application

Today I will put others needs before my own and I will sacrifice what I want for others. I will do this by picking up dishes at each meal and by helping when I see a need.