The Freedom of the Holy Spirit

This week, Americans celebrate the official declaration of our nation's independence from our mother country, England.  (For some in England, because of the trouble the colonists were causing and the loss of a certain small amount of tea
in Boston Harbor, July 4 became known as "Good Riddance Day" but that's a discussion for another time.)  They were free!  That freedom, of course, led to setting up a new government with a whole new set of laws, taxes and so forth.  But were they still free?  Yes!  And is there a parallel to spiritual life? Yes!  

Once the new American nation was born, we were no longer under English law but under a new set of laws created for this new country. Many principles were the same, but the source and the expression were different.

By rough analogy, that's the case with Christians.  We are summoned into a spiritual relationship with God. "So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.  And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death" says Paul in Romans 8, verse 1.  He continues:  God sent his Son to live in our flesh and sacrificially cover our guilt, so that "the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit."  God accepts us because of Jesus, not because we try really hard to obey and only fail most of the time.  We are in a "new land" of grace, set free by Jesus (Luke 4:17-19), and led by the Holy Spirit rather than a list of rules. 

Salvation is like immigrating to this new land:  it's coming to know, accept and live in our Father's love and acceptance of us through Jesus.  Our new spiritual relationship with God frees us to change our thinking and ways:  "For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image" (2 Cor. 3:17-18).  That freedom in the Spirit leads us to love others rather than serve self, as Galatians 5:13 says:  "Don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love."  When we serve someone, we grow in God's love; and as we grow in God's love, we learn to serve others.

Free?  Yes, you really are free -- free from your addiction to self, in all its ugly expressions. Free from guilt and shame. Free to let the Holy Spirit push you into loving somebody without expecting something back. Free to know God loves you and is showing you how to love others. Why not celebrate by thanking God, and asking him who you can love for him today?