{"id":3158,"date":"2018-01-09T12:23:37","date_gmt":"2018-01-09T17:23:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/etheriedge.wordpress.com\/2018\/01\/09\/freely-contrained\/"},"modified":"2020-12-23T17:44:47","modified_gmt":"2020-12-23T22:44:47","slug":"freely-contrained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/09\/freely-contrained\/","title":{"rendered":"Freely Constrained"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I am totally free! No condemnation in Jesus! Its all about Grace:<\/p>\n<p><i><b>\u201cSo Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don\u2019t get tied up again in slavery to the law.\u201d<\/b><\/i><i><b>\u202d\u202d<\/b><\/i> Galatians\u202c \u202d5:1\u202c\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b><\/b><i><b> \u202d<\/b><\/i>Yet, \u00a0if I live freely, doing whatever feels good to me&#8230; with no regard for those around me&#8230; I ruin my freedom:<\/p>\n<p><b><i>\u201cIt is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don\u2019t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom.&#8221;<\/i><\/b> Galatians 5:13<\/p>\n<p>So, how do I enjoy my free life without rules and yet not\u00a0create a path of destruction behind me:<\/p>\n<p><b><i>&#8220;&#8230; use your freedom to serve one another in LOVE; that\u2019s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God\u2019s Word is summed up in a single sentence: LOVE others as you LOVE yourself. That\u2019s an act of true freedom.&#8221; <\/i><\/b>Galatians 5:14<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, we&#8217;re to live freely yet <i>under<\/i> <i>constraint &#8211; t<\/i>he only constraint being\u00a0<b>LOVE!<\/b>\u00a0Ask yourself: is this <em>selfish<\/em>? Does this bring \u00a0<em>joy,<\/em><em>\u00a0peace<\/em>? Am I showing <em>patience<\/em>? Is this <em>kind<\/em>? Is it g<em>ood<\/em>? Is it f<em>aithful<\/em>? How about g<em>entle<\/em>? Am I being <em>self-control<\/em>?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b><i>&#8220;&#8230;those who belong to Christ Jesus have killed the sinful, selfish nature along with its passions and appetites.&#8221; <\/i><\/b>Galatians 5:24<\/p>\n<p>How different my freedom looks when it&#8217;s led by God&#8217;s Spirit. It&#8217;s not all about me:<\/p>\n<p><b><i>&#8220;If we claim to live by the Holy Spirit, we must also walk by the Spirit [with personal integrity, godly character, and mora<\/i><\/b><b><i>l courage] our conduct empowered by the Holy Spirit\u201d\u202d\u202d <\/i><\/b>Galatians\u202c \u202d5:25<\/p>\n<p>What a challenge for any new year!\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b>ForGlorySake! &#8211;<\/b><i>Anna<\/i><i><b><br \/><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"532\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forglorysake.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/img_8059.jpg?resize=640%2C532&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3157\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forglorysake.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/img_8059.jpg?w=750&amp;ssl=1 750w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forglorysake.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/img_8059.jpg?resize=300%2C250&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am totally free! No condemnation in Jesus! Its all about Grace: \u201cSo Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don\u2019t get tied up again in slavery to the law.\u201d\u202d\u202d Galatians\u202c \u202d5:1\u202c\u00a0 \u202dYet, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/09\/freely-contrained\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1420,8,9],"tags":[1692,1693,1691,414,415,837],"class_list":["post-3158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotional","category-practical-life","category-spiritual-growth","tag-galatians-5-13-14","tag-galatians-5-24-25","tag-galatians-51","tag-how-to-live","tag-how-to-love","tag-true-freedom"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paUt4s-OW","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3158"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5936,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3158\/revisions\/5936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}