I've been thinking about freedom a lot lately. I don't know if it's because we're coming up on July 4th and America's celebration of freedom or if it's because of where the LORD's been leading me in His Word. Probably both. Either way, freedom is the topic I cannot seem to quit mulling over and seeking to better understand. So...
That means my current Deep Thoughts are about freedom. I would love your company on this journey, so I will be writing as I learn more about what it means to walk in the Freedom that comes with being a Christ follower.
I'll start with a quick thumbnail sketch of how freedom has been given before I share the things I'm beginning to grab hold of concerning spiritual freedom. This is a meaty topic, so I'm going to break it down into bite-size pieces and allow time to chew it up and let it digest...I require a lot of chew time!!!
Anyway, here goes...
We, all of mankind, are separated from our Creator by our sin. It's not about what we've done. It's who we are. We are sinners. We are born as slaves to sin. We have a sinful nature and all our choices are driven by our desire to satisfy that sinful nature.
Our Creator, God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, is holy and pure. His purity and our sin separates us. As long as sin is who we serve, we cannot be in a relationship with Him.
NOTE: We can know about someone without being in a relationship with them and this is where we are pre-Jesus Christ.
But God loves us and wants to be in relationship with us, so He made a plan for how that can be accomplished. He would leave His home in heaven, come to earth as a baby, live a sinless human life for 33 years, die on an "execution-stake", rise to life again three days later, and then return to heaven where He would prepare a place for us to spend eternity with Him. AND HE DID IT!!!
That's our freedom! He paid the price we couldn't pay so that sin no longer owns us.
Imagine yourself sitting in a jail cell and your jailor is sin. Now, see Jesus walking up and unlocking that door and inviting you to follow Him.
Freedom in Christ goes beyond knowing who He is! Freedom in Christ is believing who He is enough to walk out of that jail cell and learn from Him how to live in freedom. He will help us unlearn the ways of our jailer and learn new ways to live. But...
The first step is getting up and walking out of that cell and into the freedom Jesus Christ has purchased for us. What happens outside that cell is another topic.
LORD, there are so many people sitting in sin's jail cell when You've already fully paid the jailor and opened the cell door for them. Reveal Yourself to them. Help them believe You are who You say You are and choose to trust You enough to follow You out of there. Help me to be bold in my trust and follow You well, so those who do not know You personally will see there is genuine joy in trusting and following You. Thank You LORD!
For God so loved the world that he gave his only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but rather so that through him, the world might be saved. Those who trust in him are not judged; those who do not trust have been judged already, in that they have not trusted in the one who is God’s only and unique Son. John 3:16-18 (CJB)
If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced." For "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. John 10:9-11 & 13 (NLT)
That means my current Deep Thoughts are about freedom. I would love your company on this journey, so I will be writing as I learn more about what it means to walk in the Freedom that comes with being a Christ follower.
I'll start with a quick thumbnail sketch of how freedom has been given before I share the things I'm beginning to grab hold of concerning spiritual freedom. This is a meaty topic, so I'm going to break it down into bite-size pieces and allow time to chew it up and let it digest...I require a lot of chew time!!!
Anyway, here goes...
We, all of mankind, are separated from our Creator by our sin. It's not about what we've done. It's who we are. We are sinners. We are born as slaves to sin. We have a sinful nature and all our choices are driven by our desire to satisfy that sinful nature.
Our Creator, God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, is holy and pure. His purity and our sin separates us. As long as sin is who we serve, we cannot be in a relationship with Him.
NOTE: We can know about someone without being in a relationship with them and this is where we are pre-Jesus Christ.
But God loves us and wants to be in relationship with us, so He made a plan for how that can be accomplished. He would leave His home in heaven, come to earth as a baby, live a sinless human life for 33 years, die on an "execution-stake", rise to life again three days later, and then return to heaven where He would prepare a place for us to spend eternity with Him. AND HE DID IT!!!
That's our freedom! He paid the price we couldn't pay so that sin no longer owns us.
Imagine yourself sitting in a jail cell and your jailor is sin. Now, see Jesus walking up and unlocking that door and inviting you to follow Him.
Freedom in Christ goes beyond knowing who He is! Freedom in Christ is believing who He is enough to walk out of that jail cell and learn from Him how to live in freedom. He will help us unlearn the ways of our jailer and learn new ways to live. But...
The first step is getting up and walking out of that cell and into the freedom Jesus Christ has purchased for us. What happens outside that cell is another topic.
LORD, there are so many people sitting in sin's jail cell when You've already fully paid the jailor and opened the cell door for them. Reveal Yourself to them. Help them believe You are who You say You are and choose to trust You enough to follow You out of there. Help me to be bold in my trust and follow You well, so those who do not know You personally will see there is genuine joy in trusting and following You. Thank You LORD!
For God so loved the world that he gave his only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but rather so that through him, the world might be saved. Those who trust in him are not judged; those who do not trust have been judged already, in that they have not trusted in the one who is God’s only and unique Son. John 3:16-18 (CJB)
If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced." For "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. John 10:9-11 & 13 (NLT)
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