Free

Galatians 5:13-14 says, "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
This passage is an important reminder after we celebrated our countries independence yesterday. We heard this message in our ecumenical service yesterday morning. The message is that our freedom is not meant only for our personal gain, but is meant to lead us to love others. One way we love others in our freedom is to invite them into the freedom we have in Christ.
I was impressed by my 6 year old son yesterday. We had many people come to our house during the 4th of July parade because the parade route goes right by our house and we are near the beginning where the candy throwers are still generous. I think we had 14 kids running around the house playing together. There were a few times parents needed to intervene, but overall the kids were very good.
I was impressed with Jamison because most of the kids at one time or another played with his Lego's. He really likes his Lego's and can be protective of them from time to time. However, he never was protective yesterday and actually he wanted each kid to build something and take it home. He wanted to give away his Lego's. He thought that each person took joy in the hard work of building their own Lego creation and they should get to take it home to enjoy, but then bring it back some time.
The freedom we have in Christ should lead us to the same kind of expression. Because we have joy in our freedom, we should want to offer it to others. When we see someone struggling or hurting we can share the freedom of Christ with them. We can give to them something that has changed our lives. Let's be about spreading the freedom of Christ all over this world as we express God's love for His people.