There is so much talk these days about political freedom and how sacred it is to peoples everywhere.  And it is.  But I don’t think we focus enough on our spiritual freedom and how sacred that is to all of humanity.  That is more critical to our hopes and survival.  When Paul says to the Galatians, “Brothers and sisters: For freedom Christ set us free; so, stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery,” rousing as it sounds, he is not making a political statement.  Nor is he trying to rally the masses around a set of legal certainties and social mandates.  In fact, he is doing something quite the contrary.  Paul tells us that we fall from grace when we seek justification by law.  We separate ourselves from Christ when we bind ourselves to the law, which will become a yoke of slavery.  Seems to me, that is what we are all trying to avoid these days. 

Nowhere in his writings, however, does Paul say we don’t need laws and social mandates.  It is a matter of priorities.  Laws and social mandates are created to serve us, not for us to serve them.  We have been set free for a greater purpose than just following the rules and norms of our societies.  More significantly, we are called to the hope of righteousness, which we can obtain by faith working through love.  That poses quite a problem for many of us.  It is much easier to hold others accountable to the law than to love them.  Yet, Jesus is straightforward about this.  We can’t judge others and ourselves by what we do on the outside.  It is more about how our hearts reflect faith working through love.  I pray today that we can let Christ remove our yoke of slavery from seeking justification through the law so that we can more fully live in freedom through love.