Today’s Reading
“It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows.” (Galatians 5:13 MSG)
I’m a literalist. That’s why I prefer the NASB or ESV translation pretty much 99.9% of the time. But then there are those times where a paraphrase like The Message does a really good job breaking down a literal verse into a practical application. Therefore, I chose to use The Message translation for today’s blog.
I have a bit of a challenge for you today. Rather than breaking down this verse for you, I want to have you try something with this verse. It’s sort of a call-and-response to reading Scripture. I want you to take these three sentences and read them one-at-a-time, over and over, emphasizing different words in the sentence. I’ll show you how it works in this first one.
“It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life.” Ready? Watch.
“It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life.” Now pray a response. “God, Thank You that You have made my freedom 100%. It cannot be called into question. It is absolute.”
“It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life.” Now pray a response. “God, thank you for providing a simple and easy-to-understand path to freedom: Your son, Jesus. Help me to not overcomplicate that gospel truth in my life.”
“It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life.” Now pray a response. “Thank You, and You alone, for my salvation. Thank You that You didn’t just save me from death, but You prepared a life of freedom for me.”
“It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life.” Now pray a response. “Help me to be what You called me to be. Thank You for calling me to freedom.”
“It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life.” Now pray a response. “My chains are broken and I am free. Help me remember this truth every minute of every day.”
See how cool it is? What you’re actually doing here is mining a verse for depth. You’re also conversing with God. As He speaks through the Scriptures, you speak right back. Now give it a try with the next two sentences. Why not make this how you read the Scriptures for the rest of your life?