The freedom that God has given us is eternal.

• To have freedom, Christ made us free

Galatians 5: 1-5

For freedom it was that Christ made us free; therefore stand firm, and do not submit yourselves again to the yoke of bondage.
Look, I, Paul, tell you that if you allow yourself to be circumcised, Christ will avail you nothing. And again I testify to every man who is circumcised, who is bound to keep the whole law. You have separated from Christ, you who seek to be justified by the law; of grace you have fallen. For we, through the Spirit, wait for faith the hope of justice.

The text begins with a clear and stimulating affirmation of God's will for our lives. Sometimes we sink into a dilemma about God's will. Frequently, we worry about decisions that, simply, do not mean a big problem with God (which school to go to, what work to accept, where to live, etc.).

We need to orient our lives in the clear statements of the Scriptures concerning the will of God. The following is one of them: "To have freedom Christ made us free."

The will of Christ is that we enjoy freedom. What school we go to, what work we do, where we live, etc., are not at all as important as having a firm position in freedom. If they were, the Bible would have ordered those things as clearly as it does here with freedom. But he does not. Therefore, that we enjoy freedom is much more important to God than many of the daily decisions that cause us so much concern. A good test of our priorities in life would be if we are as concerned about the mandate to enjoy freedom as we are about other decisions in our lives that pressure us. Do we put so much effort into praying and studying to remain firm in freedom as we do when we decide on housing, work, school or who are we going to marry? It is a clear and unconditional mandate: "Remain firm and do not submit yourselves again to the yoke of slavery".

That is God's will for us: that we have freedom. An inflexible freedom, implacable and untamed. Christ died for that. Christ rose for that. He sent His Spirit for that. There is nothing that you want with such intensity as that under the glory of your own name: that we have freedom. This is my message today. Everything else is to explain and encourage it.

Important detail: Do not bribe God to get your blessing

• It is not necessary that you pay anything to obtain full freedom in God. All of our Accounts and sins were settled on the cross. God gave His Son For Us.

Let's take verses 2 and 3 together: "Look, I, Paul, tell you that if you allow yourself to be circumcised, Christ will avail you nothing (or Christ will be of no benefit to you).

And again I testify to every man who is circumcised, who is obligated to fulfill the whole law (literally: he is in debt to the whole of the law). "

A reader who is totally insensitive to everything that has happened previously in Galatians could say: "Oh, it's easy. Paul says that circumcision is wrong and displeases God and that not being circumcised is right and that pleases God. So the point is: do what pleases God, avoid circumcision at all costs. "

Here we can realize what produces a superficial reading: it makes not circumcising something as dangerous as being circumcised, that is, a work that can be used to gain benefits from God.

In verses 2 and 3, the issue is not that circumcision in itself is something wrong, but that what is wrong is any act we perform to bribe God for blessings. Coincidentally, circumcision was the main requirement of the Judaizers, who taught the Galatians to obtain the favor of God. Galatians 2: 3-5 reminds us how circumcision relates to freedom and slavery.

Paul went to Jerusalem: "But not even Titus, who was with me, was forced to be circumcised, although he was Greek. And this was because of the false brothers (probably the Judaizers) secretly introduced, who had infiltrated to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, in order to submit ourselves to slavery, which we did not for a moment give in order not to submit, so that the truth of the gospel may remain with you. "

This is what Paul gives us to understand in 5: 1: "Stand firm, and do not submit yourselves again to the yoke of bondage." That is, do not let the Judaizers enchant you to believe that circumcision, or any other apparent act of obedience, can be offered to God as a benefit to Him, who will then have to repay you.

An Important Aspect, Freedom depends on grace:

Verse 4 says the same as verses 2 and 3, warning us to stand firm in freedom and not to submit to the yoke of slavery: "You have separated from Christ, you who seek to be justified by the law; of grace you have fallen. " If we submit to the yoke of the law and try to use it to obtain justice before God, we are subjecting ourselves to the yoke of slavery and we do not remain in the freedom for which Christ made them free. Or, to use the words of the verse: the relationship we have with Christ is annulled and we no longer benefit from his grace. What this verse teaches us is that the experience of freedom, including the freedom of eternal life, can only be enjoyed when we depend on the grace of Christ. Slavery occurs when we move away from the power of grace. The key to obtaining freedom is to continue depending on grace.

But what is grace? Grace is the powerful work of God that is exercised voluntarily by us in our current life. You must know the acronym G.R.A.C.E, for its acronym in English (GRACE): The riches of God at the expense of Christ. That is excellent. But to remind us that grace is also God's act for the present, there is another acronym: G.R.A.C.E, for its acronym in English (GRACE): The saving and loving effort of God. For example, in 1 Corinthians 15:10, Paul says: "I have worked much more than all of them, though not I, but the grace of God in me." Grace is the effort that God makes in our lives to help us. Another example is Romans 5:21: "Just as sin reigned in death, so also grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." Grace is like a powerful king who exercises his reign in the lives of Christians.

Therefore, when Galatians 5: 4 gives us to understand that the key to obtaining freedom lies in depending on grace, it means that the key to freedom is the saving and caring effort of God in our lives here and now. We are free when God helps us freely and we trust happily, instead of submitting ourselves to the yoke of the law.

• Pay attention to Galatians 5: 5, faith is not simply a decision of the past. It is a continuous way of waiting for the hope of justice. The currency of freedom has two faces. One is the sovereign and merciful work of God in us and for us day by day - Papi sitting on the floor and turning obedience into fun. The other side is our faith - a life of joyful confidence in what God does for us, not in what we can do for God - a life that is particularly different from the world because he is free to love, as we will see the week next. "For freedom it was that Christ made us free; therefore stand firm, and do not submit yourselves again to the yoke of bondage. "