I walk my dog Casey almost every day. This morning we came to a wide-open field. Since no one was around, I let her off the leash. She took off like a greyhound chasing a mechanical rabbit. I don’t know if dogs can smile, but she sure looks happy to me. What gave her that joy? Freedom. God created Casey to run, and that’s what she wants to do. She’s happiest when she’s not inhibited by the limitations of a leash and free to be who God created her to be.

God created us to be free too. Paul wrote in Galatians 5:1: “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” Paul wrote that verse to new Christians under pressure from the Jews who insisted they must keep the Old Testament laws, including circumcision. Paul explained that Jesus released them from the bonds of the law and freed them to live under grace.

How did Jesus do that? He kept God’s law perfectly as we never could. Then, He sacrificed Himself to pay for our failure to meet God’s holy standard. God offers us freedom from a mountain of rules. He only asks that we believe in Jesus for salvation. When Paul wrote, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free,” he meant God doesn’t want to enslave us to rules we’ll never be able to keep. He released us from that. He gave us His Holy Spirit and empowered us to love God and others.

It’s a shame many people don’t understand grace. They’re still trying to earn their salvation by doing good works or comparing themselves to others. That’s legalism. Legalism is slavish conformance to a standard of performance. There’s no freedom in that. The opposite of legalism is grace. Grace means that we’re free from any model of performance. We don’t have to worry about whether we’ve done enough. We haven’t, but Jesus has. When we trust in Him, we never need to stress about our shortcomings. God isn’t sitting in heaven like Santa Claus, making a list of who’s been naughty or nice. He’s not seeking revenge for the sin you committed just an hour ago. Jesus already paid for it.

Look at my dog’s face. Do you crave that kind of joy? Every human heart yearns for freedom. It can be yours by trusting Jesus. You don't need a system of salvation by rule keeping and comparison. Jesus liberated us from maintaining a set of unachievable rules and freed us to be who God formed us to be.