It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened by a yolk of slavery. Galatians 5:1
What does it mean to be free? Jesus speaks frequently in the Gospels of the freedom He brings, but what does that mean to us today? Free from what, free from whom? The Bible tells us we are free from sin, we are free from the result of sin which is death. We are free to live in a way that gives glory to God.
The simplest way for me to state this is we are free…to live! I am free to speak the truth (in love always), I am free to make decisions that will bring my spirit joy, not my flesh. I am free to live without the constraints that hold me hostage; fear, anxiety, worry, jealousy, hate, judgement, lust. These things cause my soul to hurt, the restrain me to a way of thinking that is both self-perpetuating and self-destructive.
Have you noticed when you allow these thoughts to take you hostage, to encourage sinful behavior, you feel trapped. You feel guilt, you want to hide what you thought, what you did in a hope that no one will see and God won’t notice. Yea right…like He won’t notice! But still we try to hide what we’ve done, which encourages dishonesty, anxiety, worry, and the cycle continues. This is how you are held in bondage.
Christ died to free us from this. We have already been forgiven! We have been freed from this cycle, we can chose to turn toward Christ and live in a manner that doesn’t lead us down this wide windy road to death. We have been freed to not live by the tenets and precepts of this world.
We don’t have to strive to achieve what the world tells us to. We are free to love and care for people. We are free to put our families first, we are free to be happy with what we have, regardless of what others have.
Romans 5:8 tells us, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
While we were still sinners, striving to achieve a world view expectation of who we should be and what we should want, Christ went to the cross with the image of our face in His heart.
The freedom that Christ bought with his sacrifice makes me want to enjoy every blessing He has to offer, not to waste a moment. We have freedom chose life over death…what will you do with it?
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The Freedom from and the freedom to and for is a wonderful blessing provided by Christ’s atoning work. Once again Betsy, thanks for being a blessing. Good words from the throne.