For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another! – Galatians 5:13-15
Clearly, we can choose to use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh. Think of it this way. You are out to dinner with a friend that offers to pay and says “YOU CAN GET ANYTHING YOU WANT.” You have two ways to approach the situation. Option 1: choose whatever makes your tummy feel the most full. That option – that danger – is open to us. We can take the glorious freedom Jesus has given us and use it as a way to please ourselves at the expense of others. In this example, the expense is literal. Your second option is to order a medium priced meal. This option would be showing love to the person paying by NOT choosing what is only best for you, but what is best for both.
God always wants us to approach our liberty by putting the other person first. The example of paying for dinner is trivial and simple, but that is part of our problem. We have approached our freedom with too much complication. It is easy to think liberty is “the right to sin,” or “the privilege to do whatever evil my heart wants to do.” Instead, this liberty is the Spirit-given desire and ability to do what we should do before God. The flesh expects others to conform to us, and doesn’t care much about others. But when we through love serve one another, we conquer the flesh. It isn’t through an obsessive, contemplative attitude of navel-gazing that we overcome the flesh, but by getting out and serving others. In other words, by loving your neighbor as yourself.
Loving the unlovable was a main focus of our small group last night. We all conceded this was a difficult path. But the good news from today’s study is that you are free to choose that path. Nothing is in the way of that path anymore. The law used to be in the way. This is why we see Paul spend 3 chapters in Galatians debunking the superiority of the law. Now, we know why. The law points us to Jesus. Jesus provides freedom, and freedom is the perquisite to loving the unlovable.
So wherever you find yourself on that timeline, advance to the next part. If you are focused on the law (your achievements and performance), begin to focus on Jesus. If you are focusing on Jesus, receive the freedom he gives. With that freedom, begin to use it! Begin to love the unlovable.