Called to Freedom
A Christ-centered Reentry Initiative using a Faith-Based Therapeutic Community Model
For you are called to freedom, brothers; only don't use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. For the entire law is fulfilled in one statement: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another. -- Galatians 5:13-17
Every interpretation of the Bible uses
the same exact words in Galatians, verse 13.
We are “called to freedom”. While
we are each summoned to deny the flesh, this call rings grimly true for those
who have lost their freedom, having traded it for some evil they thought would
satisfy them.
If they have finally found the emptiness
in evil, perhaps in humility they can find Christ, even in prisons and treatment
centers. If they have become
brothers and sisters in Christ, shall we not then disciple them and see them
grow in the ways of the Lord?
If they gladly accept the milk of The
Word perhaps they will find a way to follow Him, finding strength to resist
temptation. Perhaps they might come
to feast on The Word, finding joy in doing His bidding. One day they might then notice that God has restored what the
locusts have eaten…that they are content and have what they want and need.
Then a day might come where they can
share the milk of The Word with a brother or sister who has yet to find peace of
mind in Christ. Then “Called to
Freedom” will have come full circle and we will have done a share of honoring
His Great Commandments and His Great Commission.
Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. --Matthew 22: 36-40
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. --Matthew 28:18-20