Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Christ commanded us to “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me”. Christ went on to tell us “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:29-30). We have a choice to make, which yoke are we going to wear? We can wear the yoke of bondage that this world places upon us, or we can wear the yoke that Christ has for us. The choice is ours.

A yoke is an instrument that was used by farmers to harness the strength of a couple of animals to assist the farmer in plowing the field. The reason why the farmer owned the animals was not to throw his money away in feeding the animals and to have a petting zoo for his family. These animals were his livelihood and he used them to help prepare the fields so that he could feed his family.

A farmer would find two beasts that were of approximately the same size and strength and then he would take the time to train them to work in unison with each other. If one beast pulled harder than the other, they both would injured by the rubbing of the yoke. The purpose of the yoke was not to injure the animals but was meant to harness their energy so that their purpose in helping the farmer could be completed.

You have a choice to make, are you going to be harnessed by the world’s yoke of bondage or are you going to be harnessed to Christ’s yoke of freedom? If you are harnessed to the world’s yoke, than that means that your focus is upon the things of the world and you will not be free to do the perfect will of God for your life. If you chose to be harnessed to Christ’s yoke, then your focus will be upon the things of God and fulfilling HIS purpose for your life.

Paul warned us to “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness.” (2 Corinthians 6:14). God is our Creator and Maker. We are HIS. When we sin, we go astray from HIS perfect will for our life. Nonetheless, when we repent, we return to the love of God and it is our opportunity to get back into the yoke that God intended for us.

No matter how it appears, the yoke of the world is never easy. We are creations of God and as such, the more we pursue the things of this world, the more the yoke will damage our spirit and soul. The choice is yours; you do not need to be unequally yoked with this world. You can live in this world while not being of this world.

It is a hard concept for people to understand that living by the standards that God has for your life is easier than doing what you want when you want. Think of a large whale. A whale is meant to swim in the salt waters of the ocean. Nonetheless, there is nothing that stops the whale from swimming up a river that is full of fresh water. The whale has the freedom to swim where it wants, but its health will quickly deteriorate until it turns around and goes back to the ocean where God purposed for it to live its life.

The things of this world have a strong pull on your life but by adding temperance to your life you can change your focus from doing what you want to living your life in accordance with HIS will. There is great freedom in pursuing the things God desires you to do. When God visited Saul, HE asked him why he was kicking against the pricks. We need to ask ourselves the same question.

Galatians 4:24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.

In this passage, Paul is analogizing the covenant that God made with Abraham dealing with Ishmael and the covenant that God made with Abraham dealing with Isaac. Ishmael was the son born of the slave Hagar, while Isaac was the son of Promise born of Sarah.

Paul is using the picture of Hagar being in bondage when she had Ishmael to represent the Law of Moses. The Law of Moses was given by God at Mount Sinai. However this law was not a law of freedom but was a law that contained a lot of “thou shalt not”. For the Jews, they had to abide by this very strict code in order to please God. It was a law that could not be completely satisfied. Hagar was the slave of Sarah and there eventually came a time where she was let go because she could not please her mistress.

Isaac was the promise child; he was a gift from God. While Ishmael was part son and part slave, Isaac was completely free. Paul analogizes the birth of Isaac with the Christian walk. In the same way that Isaac did not have to worry about losing his place as a son of Abraham so also, as Christians, we do not have to worry about following a complex set of sacrificial rituals in order to maintain our position as sons of God.

Because Ishmael was the son of Abraham, God promised that Ishmael would be a great nation. In the same way, the nation of Israel has a special blessing just because they are God’s chosen people. As Christians, our relationship with God is not one based upon our heritage; our relationship with God is based upon our freedom to choose to abstain from the things of this world and to pursue the things of God.

Two sons, one is blessed because he was the son of Abraham and one was blessed because he was the promised son of Abraham. Two sons, one was a son of bondage and one was the son of freedom. The Jews serve the Living God through their bondage of sacrifices and the rituals required of the Law of Moses. The Christians serve the Living God through their freedom knowing that Jesus Christ paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Freedom is not free. The freedom we experience in Christianity is a result of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made upon the cross. Just as Adam and Eve had the choice to sin or not to sin, so also, we have the choice whether to follow the perfect will of God or to sin and do that which is right in our own eyes. Abraham tried to make the promises of God occur in his timing rather than the perfect timing of God and all Abraham did was make a mess.

As Christians we do not have to worry about making sacrifices to atone for our sins as we know that Christ made the ultimate sacrifice. The freedom that God has given us is not to be used on ourselves and our own selfish desires. The freedom from sacrifice does not permit us to break the law whenever we want. Just because the Jews had a long list of sacrifices to atone for their sins, it did not give them liberty to break the law.

We do not want to follow the example of Abraham who was so caught up in the promise that he tried to make it happen in his own way and his own timing. We must add temperance to our life and understand that we are living in the freedom of God and that we must wait for HIS timing to fulfill the promises that HE has made unto us.

Acts 16:25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

Paul and Silas had just cast out a devil that dwelt in a damsel. The girl’s masters were upset because they saw that they were not going to be able to make any more money off of this girl’s fortune telling. The girl’s masters had Paul and Silas thrown into prison. Paul and Silas may have been in prison, but they did not allow the dark cold cell of a prison to stop them from praying and praising God.

Paul and Silas did not pray in silence. They did not pray so that only they could hear. Instead, they prayed so loud that their fellow prisoners heard them. Paul and Silas did not care what others thought of them. They understood that it was God’s will for them to be in prison and as such, they did not temper their voice but instead, ensured that all in the prison understood that these two men trusted in God and that God was the source of their hope. Paul and Silas probably figured that someone would hear the prayer and praise and accept God’s gift of salvation.

The boldness that Paul and Silas demonstrated in this prison cell this night does not occur absent virtue dwelling in ones life. When something tragic occurs, your first response is an excellent snapshot as to where your heart is. Is your heart like Paul and Silas who were not bitter at God but instead immediately allowed God to receive the glory for their present situation? Paul and Silas were thinking upon that which is true, honest and a good report. They were looking for ways that they could serve God. As such, when a trial sprang up in front of them, they were in the position that by the grace of God they were able to overcome the thoughts of depression and discouragement.

Trials will occur in your life. How you respond to your trials will reveal to the world whether virtue dwells within you. Your response to circumstances that appear to be unfair will reveal whether you are thinking upon the things of God or thinking about yourself and doing what is best for yourself.

Think about the last time a trial sprang up in your life. How did you respond? Did you immediately thank God for the trial? Did you take the time to sing God’s praises? Did you look for ways that God might use you in the new situation? A proper response to your trial demonstrates that your heart is set upon the things of God.

If you did not respond properly to your last trial, use it as an opportunity to come before God and confess your failure and seek to repent and change from your wicked ways. While everyone may have responded the way you responded, it dose not mean that it was proper for you to respond that way. Your life is to draw the world’s attention to God and if your actions do not demonstrate that you are called by a higher power, than your life is not the testimony that God desires to see.

Add virtue to your life will change your perspective on the world. No longer do you seek to serve yourself but instead you seek to find how God can use you no matter where HE places you. Virtue requires a changed mindset. A change that is not always instantaneous. Allow God to change your actions by first changing your thoughts and heart.

James 2:24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

You are saved by faith. You live in the world; you were born with a sin nature. Just because you proclaim Jesus as Lord, it does not mean that you will be free from sin. While you have been a slave to sin, by faith you have become a servant of God. The word justified as found in this verse among other things means innocent and free. This means that your actions coupled with your faith is what enables you to be free from sin.

Because you are a servant of God, you have the choice whether to do the will of God. It is as you choose to do that which is right in the eyes of God that you will find true freedom. True freedom is not the ability to do what you want when you want; true freedom comes when you learn self-control and how to do what is right.

God may choose to perform a miracle in your life when upon your acceptance of HIS Son as your personal Savior; HE will free you from a particular sin habit. Nonetheless, while HE may free you from one sin habit, you probably have many other sin habits that Satan will not be quick to relinquish. By faith you are saved, but now it is time for you to start living your life pleasing to the Lord so that you might experience true freedom. Until you start living for God, the question becomes, are you really a changed individual?

The fulfillment of the promise of your faith comes when you learn to hear God’s voice and do as HE has said. The fulfillment of your faith is similar to a box of legos. You can look at the box and see this wonderful picture of what can occur if you take the box. However, until you open the box and actually follow the directions, you will never see the fulfillment of what all you can do with the pieces that are contained in the box.

Taking the box of legos is equivalent to faith. Just because you have it, does not mean that you have utilized it to its full potential. All the box of legos contains is a many pieces that if properly used will become something. It is by following the directions that you turn all those insignificant pieces into something great. So too, by hearing God’s voice and following HIS promptings one step at a time, God will be able to turn your life into something wonderful. However, you must hear God’s voice and you must follow HIM.

Stop and think. Do you desire to be simply saved by faith, or do you desire to do great things for God? Hopefully you answered that you desire God to use you. In that case, you must learn to put aside the things of the world and begin to serve God. There is no room in your life to serve both God and the world. You must learn to take the time to put God first and to do as HE has said. Until you learn to start allowing your faith to have an active part in your life so that you are walking a new life rather then just talking about it, you might as well be a box of legos sitting on the shelf with a pretty picture on the front showing all who pass by that while there is potential, currently, that is all it is, potential.

Yes, by faith you were saved from hell and destruction. Nonetheless, it is your actions after you are saved that will demonstrate to the world that your faith changed you. It is your actions of listening to God and doing what HE says that will open the doors of your life to do many wonderful things for the Lord. It is those small choices that you make that will make you worthless or effective. What will your actions reveal today?