One reason why we spent so many weeks examining the works of the flesh before doing this study is because our carnal, selfish nature must be dealt with before we can be entrusted with the true riches of the kingdom. Some of this is dealt with as we learn to handle earthly riches. Even so, we are not just trying to stop manifesting the works of the flesh, but we are seeking to bear fruit for the kingdom. If we just pursue the negative, we will only become empty. If we pursue the positive, it will displace the negative. Then we will be full of the Lord rather than just empty of ourselves.

I have heard many Christians say that they are seeking to decrease so that Christ may increase in them. That may seem to be an honorable devotion, but not a very wise one. They think that they are just pursuing what John the Baptist did, but this is in fact the opposite of what he said, which was “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). It is important that we not get these backwards. If Christ increases in your life, you will decrease. If you just try to decrease, you will end up with only being empty.

So our pursuit is not to just empty ourselves, but to be filled. True freedom will not come by just seeing how evil or bad we are, though that is a necessary step to bringing about repentance. We must learn to crucify the flesh when it rises up and tries to assert itself, but our goal is to behold the glory of the Lord and to be changed into His image by this. It is ultimately a positive pursuit, not just a negative one, though we do begin by becoming aware of how badly we need this change.

In this same way we will not become free by just trying to be rid of our bondage. We are not just leaving our bondage, but we are pursuing liberty. One is a negative reaction; the other is a positive pursuit.

To truly be free, we need to even turn our bondage into a positive experience, being thankful for it and all that it taught us. In this I am not implying that we are to be thankful for the sin, but rather we become thankful for every negative thing in our life because it has helped lead us to Christ. In the end, if we are going to truly be free, there must be no negatives in our life, but everything must be transformed into a glorious victory. Those who have wounded us must be forgiven, and the bad things that have happened to us must be seen as positive in the light of Romans 8:28: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

Again, it only took one night to get Israel out of Egypt, but it took many years to get Egypt out of them. True freedom never comes in just reacting to something, but is a positive devotion to the kingdom of heaven. The only true freedom is the pursuit of Christ and doing His will. As much of a paradox as it seems at first, there is no greater freedom that we could ever know than to be Christ’s slave, thinking always about doing His will.

First, this will be our greatest freedom because the Lord is the ultimate benevolent King. He cares even more about our good than we do. He is also the ultimate wise King, who knows much more about what is good for us than we do. He also made us and therefore knows better than we ever could what we were made for. Therefore, the more devoted we are to doing His will every day, the more truly free we will be—free to be who we truly are.

Many think of freedom as the ability to do just whatever they have a whim to do. That kind of “freedom” always leads to bondage of the worst kind. For example, if a train were freed from the tracks that restrained it so it could “be free” to go charging across the countryside any place it wanted, how far would it go? The tracks that restrain it are the very instruments of its true freedom—the freedom to do what it was created to do. Likewise, the restraints that the Lord has put on mankind are not to hinder us from doing things that we want to do, but to keep us from doing the things that will hurt us and lead to our ultimate bondage, which is death. His restraints set us free to be all that we were created for. As we are exhorted in Galatians:
 

The ultimate purpose that we were created for is to love the Lord. The second highest purpose that we were created for is to love one another. Therefore, the ultimate freedom that we can ever know is to love the Lord and love people. This is the greatest freedom because true love is freedom from ourselves and freedom from the ultimate bondage, which is self-centeredness.

How free would you be to do something if you knew that you absolutely could not fail at it? Then consider this: “Love never fails” (I Corinthians 13:8). If we live our lives to love God and each other, we will never fail. What could be a greater freedom than this?

This is why all of the negatives of “do not” do this or that of the Law were replaced by the Lord summing up the whole Law in the two positives: loving the Lord and loving each other. These fulfill the Law because if we love God we are not going to worship idols. If we love one another, we will not murder, envy, steal, etc. If we do these two positives, we will fulfill the whole Law.

Therefore, we must not think in terms that these are duties we have to comply with, but they are the wonderful things we get to do! We get to go to church and worship the Lord! We get to pray! We get to read our Bibles! If we see these things as just requirements or duties, we do not yet love. What person wants their conversation to be over with the one they are passionately in love with? Who wants to ever stop being with or learning about the one they are truly in love with?

If our pursuit of the Lord or righteousness is on the basis of duties and obligations, we are still trapped in a religion, not the true faith. Duties and obligations are the foundation of religion. True Christianity is not just a religion, but a relationship with God. There is nothing more exciting, wonderful, or interesting than God. If we are walking with Him as we should, there will be a continual excitement and awe at this wonderful pursuit that we have. It will never be something we have to do, but something that we get to do, and is a chief joy of our life.