Freedom

DEVOTION
GALATIONS
FREEDOM
Gal 2:3-5
3 Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. 4[This matter arose] because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. 5 We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.
NIV
Not like this is anything that remained in the past. There are still brothers who are infiltrating the ranks trying to make a slave of me. People who continue to insist I succumb to their set of rules and regulations for clean living will always be around. Is it wrong for me to think like this? Should I give in to what most people think is the right way to approach the faith? I just can’t get past the idea people have established these rules in an effort to set themselves apart from the society they live in, to be different then the ungodly, so to speak. When I first got saved, I was told no smoking, no drinking, no dancing, no movies, no roller rinks, and oh right, no mixed bathing. Slavery at its best was at work. Sure some of those rules have changed over the years, but that is the point, God does not change. No, I am quite content with my freedom in Christ, and I believe so is God. Nothing I do or don’t do can change the fact that I am saved through faith. I know, I need to live to please my Lord, and there are things I am not supposed to do, those things which are sin, which are against my Lord. What am I to do? If I tell my brothers I have the freedom to do something and it causes them to think ill of me, I have caused them to sin. If the freedom I have causes them to sin, am I wrong, or do they have the problem? Should I hide it from them in order not to create that situation? Yet, by my silence am I appearing as though I agree with their rules and thus giving credence to them? I am not sure all the people I know really believe in those rules either, except the older ones who were raised in the faith and still cling to the traditional thinking of those who came before. Maybe they is an evolution in the thinking of how faith is lived out. But that is not good either because God does not change, and living out faith remains living out faith, but not by outward signs like circumcision of the flesh, but rather by inward circumcision of my heart. Yet I still am in a quandary about speaking up or remaining silent. I have an obligation to live to the truth, to speak the truth, and hope and pray the truth produces the desired results.