To Serve With Love (Part 4)

To Serve With Love (Part 4)
“You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.” Galatians 5:13 (New International Version)
Let’s continue a little further with our unofficial acronym of the word “love.” The “V” represents “voluntary submission,” in other words, being willing to submit your will to God’s will. When Jesus came into the world, He said: Hebrews 10:5, 7 (HCSB) “You did not want sacrifice and offering, but You prepared a body for Me. See, I have come—it is written about Me in the volume of the scroll— to do Your will, O God!”Because Jesus willed to do the will of the Father, we are all saved! Jesus just didn’t do what He wanted to do. He gave Himself. He submitted His will to the will of the Father because of His love, and because of that love we are part of the body.
First Corinthians 12:12-13 “For as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body…and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” Using the natural body as an illustration, Paul describes the vital role each Christian plays in accomplishing God’s will on this earth. In the natural sense, a hand can't just do what it wants to do. It has to submit itself to the signal sent from the brain. Imagine if the brain is sending a signal to the hand to grasp a glass, and the hand won’t listen. The task that the brain wanted to do will never get done.
We all must submit to the Head in order for the Body to function properly. When the human body turns against itself and cells began to attack other healthy cells and tissues within the body, it’s called an autoimmune disease. HIV is an autoimmune disease. Lupus is an autoimmune disease. And usually there is no cure for autoimmune diseases. All doctors can do is treat the symptoms and hope the disorder goes into remission because the body has turned on itself. If you study history, the deadliest war that any nation ever faces is civil war.
But when the body is functioning in proper order, each member fulfilling its specific role, the body is healthy, vital, and accomplishes what it’s purposed to do. Jesus found Himself in the book (the Bible), and so must we. We each have a specific role. But because we have a free will, we must voluntarily submit ourselves to fulfill that role. This voluntary submission comes through the love of God that resides in our hearts.