Weekly Overview:
1 Corinthians 13:13 says, “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” The greatest of all aspects of the Christian life is love. Love is to be at the foundation of all we do, all we are, and all we hold on to. If we focus on love and allow the Holy Spirit to strip everything else away, what will be left is a life of blessed simplicity rooted in face-to-face relationship with our heavenly Father. As we spend time this week looking at the simplicity of love, I pray that all the weighty, frivolous things of the world that rob you of an abundant life fall away in light of the glorious goodness of God’s unconditional and wholly available love for you.
Scripture:“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.” Romans 8:1-3
Devotional:
What does it look like to be totally free in Christ Jesus? What does it look like to live in the world, but be free from the constraints, demands, burdens, and stresses of living for the world? Scripture proclaims to us a life more abundant, purposeful, and free than what I am now experiencing. The Holy Spirit quietly but clearly beckons me to choose him throughout my day that I might know what it is to live in constant communion with him. God clearly has a plan for us far greater than anything we have yet experienced. And he longs for today to be a day marked by the freedom of life that only comes through a transformational encounter with his presence, truth, and love.
God’s love has set us free from everything that would entangle us to this world. His love sets us free emotionally, spiritually, and practically. His love broke the chains of sin and depravity as Jesus breathed his last breath on the cross. His love broke through to earth as he tore the veil from top to bottom signifying the availability of his presence for all. His love broke through in each of our lives as we said yes to crowning him King and accepted his free gift of eternal relationship with him. And his love breaks through every morning as surely as the sun rises, declaring to us the availability of a day filled with his nearness and love.
Scripture says in Romans 7:4, “Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.” And in Galatians 5:22-23, Scripture says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” God longs for our lives to be marked by the presence of the Holy Spirit. He longs for us to bear his fruit that we might enjoy all that restored relationship with him affords us.
Romans 8:1-3 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.” God’s love has set us free from “the law of sin and death” that we might live by the law of “the Spirit of life.” His love has made a way for us to be fully known and fully loved. But the choice is still ours today. Will we submit ourselves to this new law marked by the fruit of his presence, or will we choose to resubmit ourselves to the law of this world as if the death of Christ was for nothing? Choose abundant life today by opening your heart and experiencing the nearness of the Holy Spirit.
Guided Prayer:
1. Meditate on the freedom of life available to you through Christ. Allow Scripture to stir up your faith and desire to live differently today.
“Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.” 1 Peter 2:16
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1
2. Where have you been choosing the law of the world over the law of freedom? Where have you been living for the things of the world instead of choosing life in the Spirit of God?
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.” Romans 8:1-3
3. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you submit yourself fully to “the law of the Spirit of life.” Ask him to reveal his nearness that you might know his love today. Take time to rest in his presence and bear the fruit of communing with him.
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3:17
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23
What would it be like to live free from condemnation as Romans 8:1 tells us? What would it be like to live free from the burden of man’s opinion that we could simply enjoy how God feels about us? May the Lord help you today to experience the life that comes only by choosing freedom. May he guide you into a lifestyle of continual encounters with his love. May your days be marked by the fruit of knowing him personally. And may you exhibit to the world how wonderful it is to know and experience restored relationship with the Lord of all.
Extended Reading: Galatians 5
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