Galatians 5:1. For freedom Christ has set us free;
Think together: How many people can you name that tell you what to do?
Read together: It can be hard to be a kid because everyone is always telling you what to do.
Clean your room. Give it back. Don’t climb on that.
Do your homework. Stop talking. Do it again. Raise your hand.
Be good. Love God.
When we’re kids, we need others to tell us what to do. In Galatians 4, Paul said that children need a tutor to show them right from wrong. That’s true, isn’t it? But God doesn’t want us to stay as spiritual kids forever. He wants us to grow up into our freedom—freedom to love God and be good, not because we are told to, but because we want to.
This is why Paul says, “For freedom Christ has set us free.” God wants you to be free! So much so, that he became a servant in order to obtain your freedom. Jesus gave up everything he had in Heaven, came to Earth, and became our servant. How? By showing us how to live and by doing kind things for us. But mostly, Jesus served us by dying for our sins. Jesus died as a sinner, even though he had never sinned. He died as a slave, even though he was the King of the universe.
When Jesus rose from the dead, he broke the power of sin, shame, and dying forever. And when we receive Jesus, we receive everything that he has, including all his freedom! Jesus is free! Free to live and free to love. And with Jesus, so are we.
Do something together: Challenge everyone to do one “secret service” act of kindness today for someone else in the family. Ex: pick up their dirty clothes, make their bed, pack their school lunch for them. Later in the day, talk about how it felt to serve others from a “want to,” not a “have to.”
Because of Jesus: We are free!
With Jesus: We can do things for God from a free heart.
Pray together: Jesus, thank you for loving me enough to become a servant and set me free. Help my heart grow so that I want to love you and do good things every day. Amen.
