Freedom
In Romans 6:22, the Bible talks about freedom. It says “And now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end is everlasting life; (NKJV) The NLT version reads this way “But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”On the 4th of July this week we celebrated freedom: freedom from political tyranny, but as Christians- freedom from sin, the grave, from hell and a hellish life. We celebrate freedom in every sense! I submit to you today, that we are not truly free until we live in Christ and He in us.
What Christ has commanded us to do is to go into all the world and free all men from the ravages of slavery of all kinds and become children of the King of Kings. As Children of the King, we are the ones He is using today to set the children free. I don’t have to remind you that there are slaves all around us waiting to be set free…Free from drugs, crime, prostitution, gamboling, sex, and violence. Many of us have a history of being enslaved by the evils of the world. I could add to this list of crimes inflicted upon humanity by the king of evil, but our God is greater than any of these. We are the children of the light. We are the children who have the keys to freedom inside of us.
However, are we truly free? We are on a journey to freedom; Freedom from guilt, worry, anxiety, pride, envy, jealousy and all of the other things that plague the soul of mankind. We are on a journey to freedom from all of these. Can you say you never worry, never get anxious, never get jealous, always trust God in every circumstance? I am on a journey to total freedom and so are you. As we claim freedom in every area of our lives, we can turn and set others free.
The Bible says in Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I way rejoice.” I think that we as the children of God need to take the words of the book seriously. When it says to rejoice always, we need to rejoice even in trials not just in triumphs. We need to rejoice in everything. In 1 Thessalonians 1:18 we are reminded that “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” So, as we are growing in our freedom, we can rejoice and give thanks when we are “feeling” free, and we can rejoice and give thanks when we are “not feeling free.” We are becoming those overcomers even in our imperfections.
Finally, I want to submit to you that God is looking for you even in your imperfections and your imperfect state of freedom to do His work. True victory is not in being totally set free from all bondage (as we are all on a journey) but in being able to totally forget about ourselves and think about the things that are on God’s heart. When you wake up in the morning, you can say to God, “What is on your heart today, Lord.?” As He fills you with His heart and mind, you are able to respond and say “here am I, send me.”
You will find that in this you have been set free. We are no longer slaves to sin, but are free to serve the living God fully and wholly. Let us rejoice in the freedom that Christ has given us on this day of Freedom!
Written by: Joyce Euren
Published on July 5, 2017
Sign up for encouraging stories and updates
