Live in Freedom 活在自由中
Dexu Xia
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Galatians 5:1
In Texas, where I grew up, there were festive parades and picnics in Black communities every June 19. It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I learned the heartbreaking significance of Juneteenth (a word combining “June” and “nineteenth”) celebrations. Juneteenth commemorates the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Texas learned that President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation giving them their freedom—two-and-a-half years earlier. Enslaved people in Texas kept living in slavery because they didn’t know they’d been freed.
It’s possible to be free and yet live as slaves. In Galatians, Paul wrote about another kind of slavery: living life under the crushing demands of religious rules. In this pivotal verse, Paul encouraged his readers that “it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). Believers in Jesus had been set free from external regulations, including what to eat and who to befriend. Many, however, still lived as if they were enslaved.
Unfortunately, we can do the same thing today. But the reality is that Jesus set us free from living in fear of man-made religious standards the moment we trusted in Him. Freedom has been proclaimed. Let’s live it out in His power.
By: Lisa M. Samra
How have you been trapped by religious rules? How have you experienced freedom in Christ?
Jesus, thank You for setting me free from the burden of oppressive rules.
基督释放了我们，叫我们得以自由。—加拉太书5章1节
在我从小生长的美国德克萨斯州，每年6月19日会庆祝六月节，许多黑人社区都会有节庆游行和野餐活动。我到十几岁的时候，才知道六月节庆祝活动其中让人心碎的意义。原来六月节是要纪念在1865年6月19日这天，德州的奴隶们才得知林肯总统在两年半以前，已经签署了赋予他们自由的解放宣言。可是，在德州的这群被奴役的人因不知道黑奴已得到解放，所以依然生活在奴隶制度中。
人们即使已经得到自由，还是可能过着有如奴隶一般的生活。在加拉太书中，保罗写到另一种奴役：生活在宗教规条的严厉苛求之下。在这节关键的经文中，保罗鼓励众信徒：“基督释放了我们，叫我们得以自由，所以要站立得稳，不要再被奴仆的轭挟制”（加拉太书5章1节）。信靠耶稣的人已经不再受宗教规条所束缚，不必再固守可以吃些什么，或只可以和谁做朋友。然而，许多人依旧过着被奴役的生活。
不幸的是，如今我们也可能重蹈覆辙，深怕违反人们所制定的宗教规条。但事实上，从信靠耶稣的那一刻起，耶稣就让我们脱离这样的束缚和恐惧，而且宣告你我已得自由。让我们倚靠祂的能力活出自由吧！
作者： 夏莉珊
你曾如何受到宗教规条的束缚？
你如何经历到在基督里的自由？
耶稣，感谢祢让我可以得自由，不必再背负严苛规条的重担。