We read in the book of Galatians a glorious truth for all Christians: you have been set free! That’s great news. But here’s a question every single one of us must consider: for what purpose was I set free?

Apostle Paul gives us the answer in chapter 5: serve one another in love. The same grace that broke your chains now calls you toward your neighbor. In fact, he goes on to say, “The entire law is summed up in a single command: love your neighbor as yourself,” (Gal 5:14).

Beloved, freedom, rightly understood, always turns outward. You were not set free to serve yourself. Freedom isn’t a blank check for self-indulgence. In fact, Paul warns that using freedom as an opportunity for the flesh leads not to life but to destruction. A community consumed by self-interest will bite and devour one another until nothing is left.

Freedom used for oneself is just a cage with a nicer view. But freedom used for the good of others is where life is actually found. Love, expressed in sacrifice, service, and surrender for the good of someone else in the name of Christ, that’s the purpose for which you were set free.

Now go use that freedom for what it is for.

Change begins in you!