Seize the Moment – Day 643
You are Set Free to Love!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, December 20.
In Christ, you are set free to love! Jesus proclaims it in John 8:36, “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” Paul reinforced it in Galatians 5:1a, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free.” Jesus did not come to abolish the Law; rather, Jesus came to fulfill the Law and set you free from sin so that you may live the commandments of God by grace, through the power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 5:17-18; Romans 6:14-15).
While the Ten Commandments cannot save you, they have not ceased to be God’s standard for living as His people. Deuteronomy 19:18-20 details how the ninth commandment, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Deuteronomy 5:20; cf. Exodus 20:16), protects against miscarriages of justice:
The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you. The rest will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you.
Does Jesus free you to lie or give false testimony against your neighbor? Absolutely not! Does grace allow you to falsely accuse someone without bearing the responsibility for the damage you can do for perjury? May it never be!
As New Covenant believers, we are set free from sin to live God’s way! That means we are to uphold the moral commandments of God because they demonstrate His character and desire for us to reflect Him to the world as His Image Bearers. The Law is not bondage, but your fleshly efforts to live according to it apart from grace are!
Seize the moment and walk in the Spirit today! You are set free to love (Galatians 5:1-26)!