July 2009 Meditation: True Freedom
What
is true freedom? Many people call themselves Christians and still live
like they did before they became one. When asked about it, oftentimes,
their response is that they are free from the law. The
problem is that being made free from the law does not mean we can do as
we please.
Before
knowing Christ, we were in bondage to right and wrong as well as good
and evil. This meant that keeping them completely was our means of
salvation. None of us have the ability to be faultless…that is why God
gave us His Word. The law was given to show us we needed a savior.
Jesus came to fulfill the law. When
we make Him the Lord of our life, we become free from keeping the law
in order to go to heaven, but that does not mean we are free from
keeping the law (Rom. 6:15 – “So since God’s grace has set
us free from the law, does this mean we can go on sinning? Of course
not!” NLT). In fact, because of our relationship with the Lord, it
should give us a desire to keep His commandments. Our desire should be
to please Him.
Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my
commandments.” The freedom I have in Christ is to live for Him and do
what pleases Him. It pleases Him when I live by His Word to the best of
my ability. I am able to accomplish this by putting my trust in Him and
not leaning on my own understanding….by
realizing it is no longer I who lives, but Christ living in me. This is
true freedom.
We are free to allow the gifts of the
Holy Spirit to be produced in our lives as we walk with God. We are not free to satisfy our flesh.
Jesus came to free us from that. We are free from the fact that our sin
would make us citizens of hell, but Jesus paid the price to open wide
the doors of Heaven to us. We have to receive His free gift. His gift
transforms us into new creatures in Christ, then our desire is to
become just like Him.
Jesus set
us free from the power of sin.
We
have His power and authority over the pressures of our fleshly nature.
It is through the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of God’s Word,
as well as His love for us that we are able to overcome sin in our
lives. We are more than conquerors because of God’s love for us (Rom.
8:37). The Word of God is the weapon we use to fight sin and the Holy
Spirit leads us away from it.
Having
a greater understanding of God’s love gives us the desire to walk as
Jesus walked. I
think less about what I can and cannot do and think more about what I
can do to please Him. I am free to please Him. Pleasing my flesh puts
me in bondage to it, so then I am not free to serve my heavenly Father.
The closer I become to the Lord, the freer I become. My prayer is that
we become more free everyday.
I Exercise My Freedom
By Serving God. I Do Not
Use
It As An Excuse For Doing Wrong.
(1 Peter 2:16)