Jesus died to reconcile us to God. For we have all fallen short of His perfect standards. We are imperfect people – I don’t know about you but I find it hard to go for too log without messing up in some way – and there was nothing that we could do to earn our way back into his favour. So Jesus came to stand in our place, take the punishment that we deserve and offers us his righteousness for our unworthiness.
That in itself is enough! And yet the bible shows us time and time again that God didn’t stop there. He not only shows us mercy so that we don’t receive the punishment we do deserve, but he also pours out His incredible grace over us, blessing us with every spiritual gift, something that in our own strength we DEFINITELY don’t deserve.
Not only are we given the gift of salvation, but we are freed from all that sin brings with it. He gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit – the one who brings peace, joy, comfort, help, restoration, POWER, acceptance, love, encouragement, wisdom, healing, FREEDOM.
But as the Peter Parker principal says – with great power comes great responsibility.
It’s sometimes easy for us to fall into the trap of using grace and the freedom we’ve received through Jesus as an excuse to continue or indulge in bad habits that we know are wrong. No judgement here. We’ve all done it!
But in Galatians 5, Paul warns us against this trap. He urges us to not use our freedom to continue to satisfy ourselves: our sinful nature, our selfish desires. But to use that freedom to serve one-another in love.
The bible has a lot to say on this topic. As followers of Jesus, we must help those who are less fortunate than we are.
In Isaiah 58:7, God’s command is to “share [our] food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter when [we] see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away”. We also need to “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.” (Prov 31:8-9).
In fact, Proverbs 29:7 makes it clear – the righteous care about justice for the poor and the oppressed, but the wicked don’t care at all.
We are people who have been set free by the blood of Jesus. And with that freedom we are called to serve one another in love.
The grace of God is freely given to anyone who puts their hope in Jesus. His heavenly blessings are available to all who make him Lord of their lives. Yet our response to that should be one of gratitude, love and repentance, using our freedom to serve others rather than selfish gain.
We aren’t able to overcome the power of sin on our own. We will continue to mess up, because we are human. But Paul goes on in Galatians to give us the remedy for that – the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
When we seek the guidance of the holy spirit, through prayer and obedience, and actively serve each other in love, we will know more of what it is to be true followers of Christ.
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