Galatians 18-Day Reading PlanSample

Throughout Galatians, the Apostle Paul writes about losing your freedom by getting caught up in legalism or relying on our works. Still, these verses reflect Paul’s concern about abusing your freedom. Using our freedom to satisfy our sinful desires would be abusing the freedom God has given us (v.13). The good news is that it is not up to you to fight against your sinful desires. Paul tells the Galatians that if they let the Holy Spirit guide their lives, they will have new desires given to them by the Holy Spirit, and the same is true for you and me. There is a famous verse in Psalms that sometimes people misinterpret to think that God wants to give us everything we desire, but instead, it means that God wants to replace your desires with His desires. 

Psalms 37:4 NLT

Take delight in the Lord , and he will give you your heart’s desires.

When we take delight in the Lord, He gives us new desires, and according to Paul, they are the opposite of what our sinful nature craves. Letting the Holy Spirit guide us not only gives us new desires, but we also are not obligated to obey, which seems counterintuitive. When someone is guiding us and leading us, whether it is a boss, a mentor, or a parent, we feel obligated to do what they say. How is it that Pauls says we are not obligated to the Law of Moses? The Law of Moses is summed up in one command “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (v.14) Is Paul saying that we no longer have to “Love our neighbor?” No. Paul is, in fact, saying that we are not obligated to love our neighbor, but when we accept Jesus as our savior and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us, we will “Love our neighbor.” We don’t obey God out of obligation but out of love and trust.  

The book of Romans says that allowing our sinful nature to control our minds leads to death, but when we let the Spirit control our minds, we have life and peace. Like the Galatians, we can live in freedom and peace through obedience. Obedience is not required for God to love us, but we become obedient when we desire to please God. You do things for the people you love the same way, not because you have to, but because you want to.   

Question

How does it make you feel knowing that you aren’t obligated to obey God? How is this different than what you previously believed?