Free to be Free Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: Free to be Free ------------------------------------- Date: 4/5/2002 Keywords: "free" "love" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. For the fifth day, we continue the series in the New Testament book of Galatians, the "Magna Carta of Christianity." Paul’s goal for the Christians who reads this letter is that they find freedom in Christ. May God use these studies to bring you freedom from the grip of porn and freedom to love and serve, all to the glory of God! Passage: Galatians 5:1, 13-15* 1. It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. 13. For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 15. But if you bite and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another. Questions 1. When you placed your trust in Jesus for salvation, He set you free. For what purpose did Christ set you free?   2. To what end did He set you free?   Practical help The longing for freedom has fueled man’s fondest dreams for millennia. It has sparked wars (the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the current stalemate in Palestine, etc….) and prompted men and women to risk their lives (via the Underground Railroad during pre-Civil War days in the USA, for instance). The loss of freedom will move a person to depression or suicide. We were meant to be free. Liberty is the birthright of everyone made in the image and likeness of God. Yet…. The Bible tells us that we are enslaved to sin from our earliest years and need to be released from its penalty AND power. Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead paid for just this freedom. If you have placed the treasure of your trust in Him for salvation, you are free. You won’t go to Hell AND you have within you the resources to resist sin (as a Holy Spirit indwelt new creation!). And to what end have you been set free from sin? So that you could love and serve the people in your world. This is where Jesus’ freedom applies most pointedly to your struggle with pornography. Using porn is exactly the opposite of loving service. It is using people. Even though they are not present, you are still using them by helping create the market that leads to their exploitation on the Web. Jesus has set you free from the compelling need to lustfully gaze at smut. There is no life in that. Instead, find life in loving the people around you. eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2002 by eXXit *"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission." ---