Tag: Galatians

Called to Freedom (May 14, 2013)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

…Opening To…

Words written fifty years ago, a hundred years ago, a thousand years ago, can have as much…power today as ever they had it then to come alive for us and in us and to make us more alive within ourselves. (Frederick Buechner)

…Listening In…

For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another. (Galatians 5:13; context)

…Filling Up…

The old guitar case has fourteen verses of scripture taped to it. The one at the top of the case is Galatians 5:13. The words that grabbed me at the time I pasted it to the case were, “You were called to freedom.” And these words still grab me today.

What does this mean, to be “called to freedom?” Well, if we are called to freedom, it means there are points in our lives when we are not free. Things that are not God, but which we mistake for God, can enthrall and enslave us. We sacrifice our freedom when we mistake a created thing for the Creator, when we devote ourselves to something unworthy of devotion. This might be wealth or the need for dominance or the seductive power of a video game or alcohol or drugs.

When we choose these things over God, we put ourselves into voluntary confinement. But God calls to us in this prison. God speaks the words of freedom to us, and reminds us that when we serve God, we are truly free. That is why this verse seems paradoxical. We are called to freedom and called to serve others. True freedom, therefore, happens when we choose to serve each other out of love. When we make this choice, we access a portion of the love of God that is given freely to all, and thus we find freedom.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you grant me free will so that I can choose freely to follow you. Help me make that choice each day of my life, that I may discover how you are calling me to serve others. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, with your words on my lips and your joy in my heart, ready to share both with all I meet.

More Sets of Lenses (January 31, 2013)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

…Opening To…

We say we read to “escape.” …A book so excites our imagination that we “consume” it… What would it feel like to consume the sacred book? Or to be consumed by it? To eat it, chew it, swallow it, digest it, to make it a part of you? (Roger Ferlo)

…Listening In…

You were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only don’t let this freedom be an opportunity to indulge your selfish impulses, but serve each other through love. All the Law has been fulfilled in a single statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. (Galatians 5:13-14; context)

…Filling Up…

The fourth thing you should do when you read the Bible is to read it with other people. Reading the Bible alone is a fine practice in itself, but when you read the Bible in a group, you will hear perspectives different from your own, which can help you go deeper into the text. This practice is the human equivalent of reading several translations at once.

Another person might read a sentence with completely different emphasis than you have. Another person might gravitate to a different place in the text than you have. Another person might affirm your interpretation or challenge yours with one of her own. In all of these instances, the other people with whom you read act as more sets of lenses through which you view the text.

Here are a few suggestions for you if you are going to begin a Bible study group. Agree amongst yourselves never to put one another down for voicing an opinion about a text. Always accept feedback in a positive manner. Always listen to another fully rather than forming your own thoughts while he or she is speaking. Always wait for your turn to speak. And most importantly, always pray before and after your study. We’ll talk about that tomorrow.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you gave us each other in order than we might learn how to find you in each other. Help me to rely on others in order to come to a better appreciation of your grace in my life. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, gladdened by the prospect of meeting you in the Bible.

“F” is for Freedom (February 29, 2012)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

…Opening To…

Now let us all with one accord, in company with ages past, keep vigil with our heavenly Lord in his temptation and his fast. (Gregory the Great, from The Hymnal 1982)

…Listening In…

You were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only don’t let this freedom be an opportunity to indulge your selfish impulses, but serve each other through love. (Galatians 5:13; context)

…Filling Up…

This Lent, we are exploring our faith by running through the alphabet. Today, “F” is for freedom. When you first think about “freedom,” I would hazard to guess that you think about it in its patriotic habitat. We talk about the United States of America being “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” We see bumper stickers that read, “Freedom isn’t free.” To Americans, “freedom” means something akin to “getting to do what I want.”

However, this definition is faulty. If everyone got to do what he or she wanted, we would reach a state of chaos pretty quickly. 17th century political scientist John Locke called this kind of absolute freedom the “state of nature”; in it, he argued, there really is no opportunity to exercise one’s freedom because of the constant need to protect oneself from other people’s exercise of their freedom. And so governments are instituted to protect rights. This paradoxically creates freedom by curtailing it.

In the same way, as followers of Christ, we are at our freest when we surrender our personal freedom to God; when we follow the path Christ walked; when we don’t do what we want but what we discern God wants of us. At first blush, this sounds far from freedom. But the paradox holds – the more we turn away from God and follow our own desires, the more we enslave ourselves to them. The more we allow God to lead us, the more freedom we find.

…Praying For…

Dear God, in your service is perfect freedom. Help me to recognize when I have enslaved myself to the false gods of this world so that I can turn to you, let go the shackles of sin, and be free. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, nourished by your Spirit and willing to open up a larger space within for you to dwell.

Parallels (February 9, 2012)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

…Opening To…

The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. No book in the world equals the Bible for that. (Harper Lee)

…Listening In…

“…We know that a person isn’t made righteous by the works of the Law but rather through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 2:16; context)

…Filling Up…

Day four of New Testament week is upon us, and I want to touch on something about translation. I’ll begin with a short comparison between the Bible and the Koran. One of the biggest structural differences between the two is that the Koran cannot be translated. If you’ve read an English version of the Koran, then you haven’t read the Koran, because it exists in Arabic only. This single language transmission of the text keeps the purity of the original, but creates a barrier to those who don’t speak Arabic. As far as the Bible is concerned (at least since Latin released its stranglehold), the text has been translated into hundreds of languages. This makes for wonderful coverage across the world, but at the cost of having a layer of interpretation between the original and us.

What’s this mean for the New Testament? Well, I’m not going to ask you to become a Greek scholar, but I will invite you to read more than one translation whenever you engage in Bible study. This practice allows you to see the assumptions and choices that different translators make and to choose the one that makes the most sense for you. The Internet has several great websites through which you can compare various translations.

Here’s just one example of what I mean. Read the verse above again (from the CEB), and then read these three parallels from other translations.

“We…know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.” (NIV)

“We know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.” (NRSV)

“…Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ…” (KJV).

Notice the CEB and KJV talk about the faith(fulness) of Jesus Christ, while the NIV and NRSV talk about faith in Jesus Christ. The Greek word could be either, and the translators made their choices. But this choice drastically changes the meaning of the passage! Is it Jesus’ faith or our faith in him that is operative? Or both? If you don’t have mastery of the Greek text (and let’s be honest, that’s very few people, and I’m not one of them), then reading in multiple translations is the way to go. It can cause some discomfort when you read a familiar passage with new words. But this discomfort is often where new growth comes from.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you encounter each of us through the Bible just where we are and in the languages we speak. Help me to go deeply into the texts of the Bible to encounter the truth of the word in my life. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, having faith that you have touched my life with your Word, knowing that I can read it in my heart and speak it on my lips.