July 1, 2025

Today's Reading: Galatians 5:1, 13-25

Daily Lectionary: Joshua 6:6-27; Acts 10:18-33

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

The Galatians just couldn’t quit the Law cold turkey. They needed a fix, something to claim as theirs, and God would understand, right? God can’t really be the one who does it all—the one who forgives all my sins and sets me free—certainly not my sins. There has to be more. I have to do something. I must be the author of my salvation.

Dear friends, stand firm as St. Paul says and do not submit again to the Law and its yoke of slavery.

Your sins may be great, or many, or awful. You may tell yourself you are unforgivable, unlovable, and unworthy. The truth is, I am all of those things. We are poor, miserable sinners who, under the Law, are bound to its yoke and punishment. 

Christ has set you free. Your sins are forgiven. There is nothing left for you to do. Your life under Christ is not because of any work you have done; this freedom is applied to you. It was applied to you in the waters of your Baptism, where your sinful man died to the Law, and the New Man emerged. You live each day in that baptismal grace, dying and rising to new life, free in Christ to love God and love your neighbor.

Living in that daily reality, facing that daily struggle, you will fall. We all do. Living by the Spirit points us back to the one who frees us, Christ Himself, so that we do not curve into ourselves and seek a yoke of slavery. Instead, we see Christ, and we hear the Absolution: “Your sins are forgiven, you are free. Go and sin no more.”

Living the baptized life, the Spirit produces those fruits St. Paul speaks of above within you. You share them with your neighbor, not for a fix, not out of obligation to any yoke, but out of love that comes purely from freedom in Christ.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Holy Spirit, ever living As the Church's very life; Holy Spirit, ever striving Through us in a ceaseless strife; Holy Spirit, ever forming In the Church the mind of Christ; You we praise with endless worship For your gifts and fruits unpriced. (LSB 650:2)

- Justin Chester is a seminary student at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.

In Clarifying the Great Commission, Rev. Daniel Christian Voth identifies common omissions from our collective understanding of Jesus’ farewell discourse—omissions that turn Christ’s promises of forgiveness, life, and salvation into a legalistic command. Come and discover a richer understanding of The Great Commission.