Baggage Claim — Carry On - Thursday
Today’s Verse
Galatians 5:13
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. (ESV)
I have a friend who always ends our time together by asking how she can pray for me. Though we’ve known each other since third grade, our friendship only started about eight years ago—and for six of those years, we lived in different states. I’ve always admired how she’s present (and not distracted or distant) in our time together. Whether over the phone or in person, she shows up in a way I can only describe as consistent with Galatians 5:13, “but through love, serve one another.”
Service to one another isn’t always a grand gesture. Sure, sometimes it is. But oftentimes, it just looks like showing up and loving those who are right in front of you. When my friend asks how she can pray for me, I know that she will—and that is an act of service that comes from a soul called to live and walk in the freedom of Christ.
In a country founded on the basis of freedom, it’s easy to equate freedom with doing whatever we want, whenever we want, however we want. But this is a self-centered way of looking at freedom, the kind that indulges “the flesh” we talked about yesterday. Christ calls us to a counter-cultural kind of freedom, the kind of freedom where we aren’t chained to sin and selfishness, but instead are free to love and serve one another as Christ did. The way our culture has trained us, “the freedom to serve” sounds a whole lot like an obligation we’re supposed to quit complaining about. Really, the freedom to serve isn’t an obligation at all. Instead, this freedom comes from an overflow, when the fruit of the Spirit grows so much, it naturally spills out and positively impacts the people around us.
I think there’s a connection between this kind of freedom and humility. You might’ve heard the famous quote, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less” (The Purpose Driven Life, page 148). When we practice humility, we have the freedom to open up our eyes to the hundreds of thousands of people around us, rather than focusing solely on our own interests.
REFLECTION
There are so very many ways to serve! If you want to get connected to opportunities to serve our church, check out southland.church/volunteer. If you want to get connected to opportunities to serve our community, check out southland.church/localoutreach. If you want to learn more about opportunities to serve globally, check out southland.church/missions. We’d love to hear from you!
