Just as God freed the Hebrews from their bondage to slavery in Egypt so too has God freed us from our bondage to sin through Jesus Christ. Paul begins this chapter by reminding that it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. In Romans Paul tells us that sin no longer has dominion over us as we are not under the law but under grace. The law of the Spirit of life has set us free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. Paul exhorts that because Christ has done this for us we are to stand firm in our faith and not submit again to the yoke of slavery.
How then are we to live out this life of freedom that Jesus has given us? Paul tells us that we are to walk in the Spirit being led by the Spirit. When we walk in the Spirit we are walking in the grace of God and our lives exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This fruit is the visible evidence that we are walking in the Spirit. When we walk away from being led by the Spirit we walk instead as being led by the desires of our own flesh and we head back toward a life of slavery. Paul lists the fruit of such a walk which is the visible evidence of what it looks like when we are led by the desires of our own flesh. We live in this tension between the Spirit and the flesh but remember it is God alone who is our help and our sole deliverer from bondage.
We are a community of people walking by faith and walking in the Spirit, loving God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength and loving our neighbor as our self. However, our fellowship together is no ordinary fellowship as through our life together in the Spirit we participate in the very love that resides within the very heart of God. We are one people bound together by this love through our life together in the Spirit and we are called to reflect this love to the world.
Prayer: Gracious God we sing our praises to you today for the precious gift of your love. Help us today to rest in your deliverance from ourselves and to walk by your grace in your Spirit in love for you and for one another. Amen.
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