Are you free?

We are not children of the bondwoman but of the free. – Galatians 4:31

Kizzy Kinte didn’t have a chance. The daughter of Kunta Kinte in Alex Haley’s epic book Roots wanted to slip the bonds of slavery and live free, as her ancestors had done in Africa. But she couldn’t. She was born of a slavewoman, Bell Kinte, and in those terrible days of bondage, she was destined to live as a slave.

Kizzy’s parentage – over which she had no control – dictated her destiny.

That sounds a little like Galatians 4:31, where Paul used an analogy of an Old Testament story to help us understand bondage and freedom. Alluding to the story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar, Paul explained the difference between the child of a bondwoman (Hagar) and the child of a freewoman (Sarah). Only the child of the freewoman could enjoy an inheritance; the other was destined to bondage.

Here’s the point: each of us – male or female, Jew or Gentile, black or white, rich or poor – can share in God’s inheritance. All who trust in Jesus as Savior become "not children of the bondwoman but of the free" (v. 31). We are released from the bondage of the law of God and offered God’s grace instead. And our inheritance is freedom – absolute freedom in Christ.

Has God’s grace made you free? – Dave Branon

Out of my bondage, sorrow, and night,

Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come;

Into Thy freedom, gladness, and light,

Jesus, I come to Thee. – Sleeper

READ: Galatians 4:21-31

True freedom is found in bondage of Christ.

The Bible in one year:

• Exodus 25-26

• Matthew 20:17-34