“FOR IF THE SON SETS YOU FREE, YOU ARE FREE INDEED.”
JOHN 8:36
Today, I am declaring my personal “Independence Day”: the day I experienced myTRUE FREEDOM IN CHRIST! No longer do the chains of legalism, sin and fear bind me, for I stand redeemed, forgiven, washed, sanctified, justified and healed because Jesus, our Great High Priest has broken the chains of sin and death and hell, thus fulfilling the law by laying down his OWN life and raising it up again so you and I could be set FREE!
What do I want to do with this freedom?
How can I show my gratitude for the GRACE in which I now stand? Many can make the mistake of thinking that “freedom” means you can now do whatever YOU want. But no one is ever completely free in that sense. Our freedom comes with a price: obedience to God. If we submit our lives to Christ and HIS authority, he will FREE US from slavery to sin. In other words,
Christ sets us FREE to live for HIM; for your freedom was bought with a price: Christ’s sacrifice for sin on the cross.
Because of Jesus’s sacrifice for your freedom, you can live free of sin by following Jesus’ teachings as you pick up your cross and live for Jesus!
Paul explains this personal sacrifice to follow Jesus as an opportunity to become as“living sacrifices” for Christ:
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Romans 12: 1-2:
Paul wasn’t just talking about our bodies here, but our whole selves: BODY, MIND AND SPIRIT. To truly offer ourselves as “living sacrifices” we will be willing to lay down our personal agendas to seek the Lord’s agenda.
We will be willing to allow Jesus Christ to be LORD of every area of our lives.
The call to sacrifice is summed up in whether or not we want to be independent OF or dependent ON Jesus. In other words, to be dependent on Jesus, we choose to submit our will to God’s perfect will . . . not the other way around.
All freedom comes with a price.
The greater the freedom the higher the cost. To some it may seem like you are losing your “freedom” if you submit your will to God’s Sovereign Will. But the truth is, surrendering to Jesus is the key that unlocks the prison cell, so you can walk out of prison and into TRUE FREEDOM…the freedom found in becoming a “living sacrifice” for Jesus!
We can choose today, to declare OUR DEPENDENCE UPON JESUS CHRIST AND BE FREE!!
Knowing that Jesus was willing to lay down his life so that we could truly BE FREE from sin, death and hell and gain eternal life through him, how can we then say to Jesus: “Thank you Jesus for dying for me and giving me eternal life. I am willing to offer up this part of my life in exchange for that freedom, but that part…well, that’s mine. You can’t have that part of me. It’s way too valuable to Me.” Where is the gratitude in that kind of attitude? Personally, choosing to sacrifice our agenda is not easy…in fact…it can be the hardest part…because It requires you to DIE to yourself to LIVE for CHRIST. I knew that leaving Mormonism could mean losing a relationship with some of my family and friends, as well as my good reputation among my church community at that time. But, most importantly, I feared leaving Mormonism would mean that I would LOSE my salvation!! Can you imagine that? Deep down, I knew that my decision to follow Jesus would change my life…permanently. Some of the unfortunate consequences did occur, just as I had feared, but Jesus is very near the brokenhearted!
When I lost my life as I knew it, Jesus became my EVERYTHING and from that place of brokenness, Jesus lifted me out of the ashes of my ruins and said “You are Mine”.
Here’s the bottom line: When I gave up my life as I knew it… to follow Jesus, I experienced the Holy Spirit cleansing my soul and washing me clean and I knew I would never be the same.Life was different…and there was no turning back!
JESUS had turned the key of my prison cell and said,
“You are free to go”, and that day, I walked out of my prison cell and into TRUE FREEDOM in CHRIST!
AMEN!!
Since that time I have made many, many more personal sacrifices to follow Jesus. It’s funny how it’s so hard to let go of what we love or value until we finally do… and after experiencing the blessing, we look back and ask, “Now WHY was that so hard?” It’s hard because it takes obedience and faith to follow Jesus and trust that His plan is a GOOD PLAN. Hindsight is always 20/20. When we look back on the Lord’s faithfulness we exclaim with joy, “Look at all the Lord has done!” But, if we can remember to TRUST Jesus on the front end when the path ahead seems unclear, then we have learned the power of trusting that Jesus is and will always be FAITHFUL.
The choice to sacrifice becomes easier as we learn to TRUST Jesus.
Then, after the testing of our faith, faith becomes knowledge and knowledge becomes trust as we come choose to believe that JESUS IS ALWAYS FAITHFUL TO THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.
Jesus said: “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”
Matt 10:37-39
OUR FREEDOM IN CHRIST COMES WITH A PRICE…
BUT JESUS IS WORTH IT!
Freedom in Christ will bring some personal cost…
but there awaits a great REWARD
for those who choose to follow
JESUS!
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for ME and the GOSPEL will fail to receive a hundred times as much I the present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come ETERNAL LIFE.”
Mark 10:29, 30
I am ETERNALLY GRATEFUL TO KNOW…
Jesus paid it All….to give me the FREEDOM in which I now STAND!
My own personal sacrifice to receive this FREEDOM pales in comparison to the price for FREEDOM paid by our KING JESUS!
TRULY, JESUS IS OUR LIVING HOPE!
“Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a LIVING HOPE through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can NEVER PERISH, SPOIL OR FADE.
This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through FAITH are SHIELDED by GOD’S POWER until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
In all this, you GREATLY REJOICE, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven GENUINENESS of your FAITH —of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may see the RESULT in PRAISE, GLORY, and HONOR when JESUS CHRIST IS REVEALED.
Though you have not seen HIM you LOVE HIM; and even though you do not see him now, you BELIEVE in HIM, AND are FILLED with INEXPRESSIBLE and GLORIOUS JOY, for you are receiving the END RESULT OF YOUR FAITH…
“THE SALVATION OF YOUR SOULS.”
1 Peter 1:3-9
Thank you Jesus for dying for me so I may LIVE!!
TODAY AND ALWAYS, LET FREEDOM RING!!
“For if the Son sets you FREE, YOU are FREE indeed!”