We Must Use Our Freedom Properly

This is Day 24 of my 40 day Lenten Blog.

"For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." (Galatians 5:15).

I'm sure you've all heard the expression: "This is why we can't have nice things." That is what this verse makes me think of. God allows us to have freedom, but too often we use that freedom for our own selfish and carnal desires instead of using it to serve our fellow man.

When the price gougers began buying up hand sanitizer and surgical masks to be able to sell at 70 times higher they were using their freedom for their own selfish ends and profiting handsomely off of the fear, pain, and death of others. That is an obvious example. But it is not the only one.

Certainly I have used my freedom as an opportunity for the flesh many times instead of using it to serve others. In fact, I can easily slip into a selfish use of my freedom to fulfill my own needs and desires without much thought of anyone else. How often do I think of ways to help others? Not nearly enough. How many times have I ignored others in need? Too many I assure you. I need to reverse those. I should be thinking of ways to help others more often and ignoring the needs of those around me less often. It won't help me to fool myself into thinking I do enough, because I don't. Even if I do more than my neighbor, I must remember that my neighbor is not the standard...Jesus is.

Today's prayer:

Lord, thank You for the freedom You have granted me. Help me to use it not for my own selfish carnal desires, but instead to serve my fellow man. Take the selfishness from my heart and give me a heart like Christ: a generous heart--a servant's heart. Amen.

R.C. VanLandingham is the author of the Christian fantasy novel Peter Puckett & The Amulet of Eternity. He lives in Florida with his beautiful wife and three wonderful boys.