‘Brothers, Just don't take freedom as an incentive to worship the body”
‘Therefore, you brothers have been called to freedom. Just don't take this freedom as an encouragement to worship the body, on the contrary, with love and service to 1 another! For the full Law is fulfilled in this 1 command: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
What is actual freedom in Christ? It does not mean rejecting God’s laws and commandments and giving space to a arrogant ego with his unordered, fleshly desires to commit evil without remorse. Human freedom is not about the inviolability of ego, which always wants the last word in its pride, even after God's Word. It would be false freedom, leading to destruction. Freedom in Christ is that man accepts the way of truth, or repentance, and renounces himself, his pride. He realizes the law of wheat grain, which must die to bring about fresh life. He is so full aware of beings that the pride of our ego, which is untouchable and offensive, must be named by name. He is aware of this spiritual poisoning in man, that is, in himself from which all wars and crimes originate, and which is besides the origin of eternal condemnation. A arrogant ego sits on the throne in our soul. He must be dropped from the throne! Jesus must take over. This is the full essence of our salvation. But it's not that simple. Therefore, man must devote much time to prayer in order to see spiritual poisoning before God and to have the strength to humble himself. The eventual overthrow from the throne of this devil's seed, our ego, is impossible without regular rooting. If a individual tries to do so all day and does not let himself to feel sorry for himself, vengeance or resentment erstwhile he is humiliated, he will gain experience that he will not attain triumph another than by constantly entering into God's light, which he receives in prayer. Then he is able to internally process humiliation and turn it to his advantage, to fresh experiences, to deeper knowledge.
How hard it is for a man to humble himself erstwhile he was not disciplined in his childhood and everyone had to “dance” around him due to the fact that he imposed the inviolability of his ego and was not inclined to admit the fact that his parents presented to him. The top gift for the kid is good, healthy upbringing, and above all the example of parents. It's the top treasure and dowry that parents can give to their child.
In his letter to the Philippians, we see the example of Jesus ’ humility. Humility is indeed the casting of the old man, or our corrupt nature, and the giving of dominion in our soul to Jesus Christ. Life is short. We live in apocalyptic times. We, Christians, should be the beginning and light in this--to renounce ourselves, to follow Christ and to obey His commandments.
- Read Philippians 2.5-8
(a) What example should you follow? (verse 5)
(b) What position did Jesus take? (verse 7)
(c) How did he become a servant? (verses 7-8)
- Philippians 2.3-4 tells us how you should act in life:
(a) What should you do?
(b) Think about the area of your life where you don't do it.
(c) How can you fix this?
