“Be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1).
FORWARDS NOT BACKWARDS
The Lord expects us to move on, not to stand still and certainly not go backwards in our walk with the Lord. This is a theme in the Scriptures: The Apostle Paul said, “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead” (Phil 3:13).
Paul had been doing well in Judaism, excelling beyond many of his age, he was advanced in his religion, but he said this, “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ” (Phil 3:8).
There was no way Paul was going back, he wanted to move forward in Christ. Satan buffeted him hard but Christ’s grace was sufficient for him to keep moving forward.
And we can be sure that there will be times, seasons, where the devil targets us in an effort to recapture ground that we have taken from him. Don’t allow him to rob you!
We have been pulled out of slavery to sin, so let’s not play around with fire once we have been saved from it. Go nowhere near it! Those who play with fire…
Paul was amazed that some in the province of Galatia were toying around with their former way of life, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you” (Gal 1:6).
He laid it on the line for them, “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?” (Gal 3:1).
Jesus tells us that the enemy will attempt to retrieve what he has lost, so beware because if we give ground to him it will be much harder for us to shake him off: “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first” (Matt 12:43–45).
So Paul urges the Galatians not to become entangled again in the yoke of bondage. For entangled is a good word to use, we become trapped, impeded, unable to move properly. Embroiled in nets of evil, restricted and taken backwards by the forces of darkness.
So let’s be strong in Christ, praying, “lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil”.
“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” (Gal 5:1).