Galatians 5:1: Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.

Living free isn’t always easy, but it is rewarding. Living by faith while residing in a world filled with sin and corruption can be very difficult at times. Let’s look at this subject in a different light. The Lord didn’t put you in a huge mud puddle and ask you to stay clean. He has saved us, however, and instructed us to keep the sin that is in the world out of our hearts.

Would you not agree that it would be very easy to live in sin and to enjoy the pleasures of sin (though sin only has pleasure for a season) in contrast to the pressures of living a holy and consecrated life before God? Jesus never told us life in this world would be easy, but He has promised us that He would reward those who are faithful to Him.

Therefore, now that we have accepted Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we must choose to walk by faith and to resist the pleasures of this world.

We must realize there’s something in this world that can cause us to backslide and lose our reward, and the Lord wants us to be fully aware of this stronghold so we can break it off from our lives. If we didn’t have a carnal, or flesh, nature, a desire to violate the principles of God’s Word, then we wouldn’t struggle one bit with living a holy life.

Our struggle to remain free and to walk in the liberty that Christ has given to every believer stems from our flesh nature—not from residing in a world of corruption.

This was the issue that Paul was addressing with Jewish believers in Christ in the church at Galatia. They had begun living their new life by faith, but afterwards they chose to go back to living under the Law and works. They had gone back into bondage. Are you living a life of liberty in Christ today? Or are you believing in Christ and at the same time living in bondage to the flesh nature?

If you’ve placed your faith in Christ and you’re still living in bondage to the flesh nature, then know that “in Christ,” the old man is dead, and you don’t have to obey its lusts. You don’t have to give in to guilty pleasures and live under condemnation. The same Christ who has delivered you from the death of sin’s wages is the same Christ that wants you to be free from the bondage of the flesh nature.

The writer of Hebrews exhorts us to walk by faith. When we walk by faith, we don’t try to keep the law or fulfill religious requirements. We diligently seek Him, and God has promised that He will reward us.

Let’s seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness continually. Seek when you struggle. Seek when you’re weak. Seek when you don’t think you have the strength to seek. Always seek Him and His will over your own desires, and God will supply all that you have need of and will reward your obedient faith. We’re not seeking pleasure, we’re seeking life.  —submitted by Pastor Asa Dockery