The Way DAY 14 - Ditch "What About Me"

Day 14 - Ditch “What About Me”

Galatians 5:13-14
 
The Way of Jesus says you won’t be free until you ditch “What about me?” Jesus frees us FROM sin and frees us TO love. Freedom from sin opens the door to real and lasting change.

This spiritual freedom is actually what made Christianity SOCIALLY radical. Jesus wasn’t announcing economic reform or demanding to empty every prison. He cared deeply about the poor but the fact is, political revolution wasn’t radical enough because it didn’t confront evil at the source.

You see people finding this freedom in the early church. Women were empowered beyond the sexist limits of 1st c. culture. Many had positions of leadership in the church. Jews and non-Jews worshiped together as one family because racial barriers were torn down. Slaves and masters were equals in the body of Christ.

When people realized you won’t be free until you ditch “What about me?” it led to evangelism, missions, and justice. All three focus energy on people outside ourselves.

People on the Way of Jesus shared the good news with humble confidence - evangelism. Christians organized to introduce Jesus to entire people groups - missions. Christians blazed new paths to care for people and right social wrongs - justice. Christians fed the poor. Christians rescued abandoned infants and raised orphans. Christians created healthcare centers called hospitals. Christians took care of seniors who had no one else to help.

They changed the direction of world history, all the way to the present. Personal liberty with social responsibility shaped Martin Luther King, Jr.’s approach to civil rights. He said, “No one is free until we are all free,” borrowed from the Jewish poet, Emma Lazarus.

It begs the question: what’s our heart for evangelism? For missions? For justice?

REFLECT
Originally, the Year of Jubilee was about social and economic freedom. It became a picture of total freedom: spiritual and social. What’s the connection between spiritual freedom and social freedom?

 PRAY
Lord, stretch my heart for evangelism, missions, and justice. Open my eyes to see the needs around me. Amen.