Lenten Reflections, Day 17

Friday, March 9th, 2012

Written by: Ken Schuster

Reading: Galatians 5: 1-6

God’s Law of the Old Testament is demanding and rigid. Do this, don’t do that. You must, you will, you have to. All these were the "religion" of God’s followers BEFORE the resurrection of Christ. For me the truth of God’s forgiveness of His children is not in when, where, why or how Jesus, the Christ, was conceived, born, lived, what He said or how He died. It is in the RESURRECTION! With the Resurrection we move from the child-like followers of God’s rules to the adult practitioners of God’s love.

All the good works in the world mean nothing toward my forgiveness. "The only thing that counts is faith expressed through love." I am free to thank and serve the God who saved ME. Luther discovered the freedom God gives when he focused on the Bible’s teaching that our sins are forgiven through the resurrected Jesus. It’s simply a gift. We have seen this even at St. Stephen as we have moved to the congregation that openly shares and proclaims at each "communion" that for us "God’s gifts are free".

In this text Christ, through Paul, is imploring us to not return to our past fears of doing the wrong thing or not saying the right words. Here we are shoved out the door to show and tell others what we believe and to practice our faith with love.

Let us Pray: Through the gifts of the Holy Spirit guide us to always thank our Savior for the freedom He has given us, to use our Christ given freedom to serve our God, and to show His love and forgiveness to others. Amen.

FAMILY MOMENT:

Christ’s death and resurrection has set us free! We are free to make good choices and bad choices, to love others or to hate others, to help others or to help ourselves. Why is it good (or bad) to be free? What do you think of when you think of freedom? Have everyone look through the newspaper or a magazine and cut out pictures that look like freedom or look like no freedom. Discuss the difference.

Jesus, thank you for your sacrifice to make us free! Give us strength and wisdom to use our freedom to love others and to love you. AMEN.