Lutheran Devotional 18th June 2025, Wednesday Message
TOPIC: Freedom
Galatians 3:23a, 24b, 25, 26, 28, 4:1-3a, 4-7 – Now before faith came, … the Law was our guardian … But now … we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus … I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved … But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
There are some wild animals that can never be set free back into nature. I think you know what I mean. There are creatures that have been so used to living in a cage, that, when their keepers open the door and allow them to come out, they turn right around and go back into the cage and stay there. They refuse freedom. That is what the Galatians are doing, and it’s driving Paul crazy.
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The Galatian Christians are eager to live under the old Jewish Law, trying to keep all the commandments and rules God set up for Israel in the beginning. But this is a trap. As Paul points out, that Law was meant to be temporary—like a guardian for children, like a cage for a wild creature with a cast on its broken leg. It was never intended to be a permanent home for us. God intends us to be free—and that can only happen in Jesus Christ, our Savior.
Jesus is God Himself, come into our world to become one of us, a human being. He too was born under the Law, and unlike us, He managed to keep it perfectly. He never had any guilt of His own to deal with—no sin, no shame. The devil couldn’t charge Him with any wrongdoing. Death did not apply to Him, since He did nothing to earn it.
And what did Jesus do with that perfection? He turned around and gave it to us. And then He took our sins and shame to be His own, and carried them to the cross—where He got rid of them forever. Jesus rose from the dead on the third day—but our sins did not! And so we are free—free to live with our Savior who loves us, who is teaching us day by day to walk in freedom, looking to Him, loving Him and His people.
We don’t need to live in a cage ever again. We walk free with Jesus.
WE PRAY: Lord, teach me how to live free in You. Amen.
Reflection Questions:
- Why do you think some people prefer the Law to freedom?
- What is scary about freedom?
- If you are following Jesus for love’s sake, is that easier or harder than living by a set of laws?
Today’s Readings:
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
