have you ever considered...

we read:
Galatians 5:1 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.

many people believe that they were 'set free in order to serve'.

that's interesting...but i really wonder where they get that.

have you ever considered that just maybe God set you free because He simply values freedom?  Maybe, just maybe, God purely and simply likes you to be free...  Maybe God's goal for setting you free was completely, 100% accomplished when you were found to be free !

...it is for freedom that Christ has set you free; by setting you free, God accomplished His goal. !!!

Takeaway
God loves your freedom; God values your freedom; God made you free.  God wanted you free and He completely accomplished exactly what He wanted.
Application
it is suitable to walk in your true freedom, no strings attached.
Question
If God wanted you free and God made you free, does it honor what He did (He made you free) to live, think or feel as if you are not?   ...Is it weird to you that, as a free person, you don't have to honor what He did for you?

David as the legalistic Christian in 2 Samuel 12

2 Samuel 12
1 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
4 "Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him."	------------------------------ David has been a shepard for many years. Could Nathan have picked this specific example to provoke a response? ------------------------------
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!	------------------------------ David's anger is strong! David understands that sin deserves death; although the Law would require a smaller penalty, David understands that sin deserves death. But he says it in anger... Is it surprising that a saved man would demand justice in burning anger instead of mercy? ------------------------------
6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity."	------------------------------ But, he thinks better of what he said and essentially pronounces the sentence required by the Law (4X the loss). This is not a picture of David expressing mercy...this is what is required and allowed by the Law. ...Although he is saved, David is hung up on right-and-wrong, good-and-evil, the Law, etc, etc. ------------------------------
7 Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.	------------------------------ At this point, Nathan confronts David with David's sin; we know that Nathan (and God) considered David to have killed Urriah. What is required by the Law in such a case? Death. ...The Law requires the death of murderers. ------------------------------
10Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.' 11 "This is what the LORD says: 'Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.' "	------------------------------ Nathan prophecies about what God will do; it sounds quite harsh to us...but it is actually quite lenient! In the Law, murder requires death! What is the difference between David's pronounvcement and God's pronouncement? ...Where David had reacted in anger wanting 'justice', God reacts in love with grace and mercy. ...Where David had thought better of his first reaction and pronounced the Law on the rich man, God did not pronounce the Law on David. ------------------------------
13 Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD."	------------------------------ David doesn't pick up on how differently he reacts from how God reacts. Modern people read this statement from David as if he was 'doing the right thing' and confessing his sin. But this is really a picture of disbelief. ...David knows the requirements of the Law and can't beleive how lenient God treats him. How is that lenient? David thinks that stealing a ewe lamb deserves death...how much more does he think murder deserves death!?! ...David hears the pronouncement and states 'I have sinned against the Lord'...he is practically reminding Nathan that he is a murderer deserving death, correcting Nathan and prodding him to judge him and pronounce the Law's 'proper penalty'. ...David is not 'confessing his sin', he is encouraging his own death !!! ...Although he is saved, David is hung up on right-and-wrong, good-and-evil, the Law, etc, etc. ------------------------------
Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.	------------------------------ Nathan responds to David's legalism with the Gospel: "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die." ...Even though God had already saved David, even though David's sin was already paid for, David was still in bondage to the idea that he still owed a sin-debt to God! God's prophet, Nathan, corrects David - David had no sin, and David was not going to die. That's the gospel. All in all, David is a saved man, bogged down and in bondage. He is given mercy, but reacts with justice. He is given life, but keeps expecting death and keeps expecting God to kill him. Though saved, he keeps disbelieving the gospel; his faith is as long as his arm. Poor David... ...But, even sader given that we're on this side of the cross, most believers still disbelieve like David did. ------------------------------

it's about acceptance...

to get others to serve, i often hear people quote this verse:

Romans 12: 1Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

however, this verse is not really about service...it's about acceptance.

in the past, very few people were allowed to serve God; the High Priest could enter the Holy of holies only once a year.  in short, people were not acceptable to God under the Old Covenant.  people were not worthy to serve Him.

under the New Covenant, however, we are acceptable to God.  we are (finally) living and holy, where before we were dead and stained.  where we were once rejected, we are now accepted.  where we could not worship, we now can worship.

this verse in an encouragement...you could read it like this:

brothers, God made you holy and alive by His mercy; He accepts you.  you don't have to be afraid of Him anymore or stay away from Him anymore.  i urge you to believe this and to act like it is true.  and, if you want to, you can now serve Him

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
but, i haven't gone far enough yet.
you see, despite what i wrote above, i would go so far as to say this is not about 'service' at all...this is not about 'doing things' in the slightest.  what paul saying is that simply believing we have become holy and living and acceptable IS, ITSELF, our spiritual service of worship.  in other words, paul is saying that we worship God BY BELIEVING, not by doing lots of stuff.

this all connects with the verses that follow.  believing we are this living and holy person is the way that we 'renew our mind'; believing is how we 'test and approve God's perfect and pleasing will'; we 'test' it when we consider not believing it; we 'approve' it when we believe it, when we agree with it.  ...however, if we do believe this (we are holy), we might get a big head; hence the warnings about thinking too much of ourselves that follow.

Takeaway
you are acceptable to God; you are alive and Holy.  believing God is worship.
Application
it is suitable to act like you are Holy and alive and acceptable, to present yourself to God that way, to worship Him by believing it is finished.

1 John 2:28-3:10

1 John is a difficult book for most people. Most people are initially biased toward believing 'this is about behavior'; if this is your bias, you might try another one instead...try  'this is about belief and unbelief' or 'this is about the gospel'.
1 John 2:28-3:10 (New American Standard Bible)
28Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.	Who is a child of Him?  Believers. Will the sins of believers be held against them, or are their sins completely paid for by Jesus Christ?  Completely paid. Who can have confidence when He appears?  Believers. If a believer feels distant from Him, will they be confident when He appears?  No.  If a believer consciously knows he 'abides in Him', will he be confident?  Yes.
29If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.	Who knows that Christ is righteous?  Believers. Can unbelievers do righteous things or is their best just 'filthy rags'?  Filthy Rags.  So who can do righteous things? Believers. Who is born of Him?  Believers.
1 John 3
1See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.	Who is a child of God?  Believers. Who knows Him?  Believers.
2Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.	Who is a child of God?  Believers. Where will believers see Him?  Heaven.  Who goes to Heaven?  Believers.
3And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.	Who fixes their hope on Him?  Believers. Who is pure?  Believers? Who are as pure as Him?  Believers?
4Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.	In this context, what is 'sin'?  The disobedience of unbelief. Is it lawlessness to not believe? Yes. Is it obedience and lawfull to believe? Yes.
5You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.	Who is in Him?  Believers. Who has no sin?  Believers.
6No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.	In this context, what is 'sin'?  The disobedience of unbelief. Can a human not believe (sin) and 'abide in Him'?  No. Do beleivers 'abide in Him'?  Yes. Do unbelievers 'see Him' or 'know Him'?  No. Do believers 'know Him'?  Yes.
7Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;	Who is a 'child of God'? Believers. In this context, what are the likeley types of 'deception' this could mean?  Could the false teaching be that 'believing in Christ does not make you righteous'? What makes you righteous?  Believing. How righteous? As righteous as Him.
8the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.	Who are 'of the devil'?  Unbelievers. What sin makes them unbelievers?  The disobedience of unbelief. Among his many works, do the works of the devil include inspiring unbelief?  Yes.
9No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.	Don't ALL believers sin in some form or another?  Yes. Do all believers (that is, people 'born of God') believe (that is, not 'sin')?  Yes. 'His seed' abides in whom?  Believers. If someone is a believer ('born of God'), do they commit the disobedience of unbelief?  No.
10By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious:  anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.	Who is 'of God'?  Believers. In this context, what does it mean to 'practice rightesousness'?  To believe. If people believe, if they 'practice righteousness', are they 'of God'?  Yes; they are believers. Is 'love' part of the 'New Creation' package?  Yes. Did God poured out His love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit? Rom 5:5.  Whose love compels us?  2 Cor 5:14.  Is love included in the fruit of the Spirit? Gal 5:22.  Does God make love increase and overflow?  1 Thess 3:12.  Who is given sincere love for the brothers?  1 Pet 1:22.