Celebrating Freedom

In honor of Independence Day and the celebration of freedom for our country, I am sharing the following Facebook post I wrote 3 years ago when I was just beginning to learn what true freedom is.  My eyes were opened to realize we were set free by Christ simply for the sake of being free . . .

For years I have heard and even sung the words “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free,” which is actually Galatians 5:1 (NIV), but it is not until the last year that this verse has actually came alive in my life. Look at the verse. It says Christ set us free so we can be free. The reason He set us free is so we can enjoy freedom. Freedom according to Webster’s dictionary is “the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action.” Think about this for a second. Christ set us free . . . Christ WANTS us to be free. The verse goes on to warn us to not allow ourselves to be burdened by a yoke of slavery. I have read this verse many times over the years and have always considered it to be talking about the yoke of sin, which I believe is true, but I have been convinced over the last months, that it means so much more. The first 36 years of my life have been spent with an image of God as a judge sitting on clouds in the heavens waiting to strike down myself or any other who does not meet His standards. Here’s a news flash . . . no one meets or can meet His standards, and . . . WE DON”T HAVE TO!! The reason we don’t have to is because Jesus met the standard for us. Romans 3:22-25 says “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith” Do you see that ALL ARE JUSTIFIED FREELY BY HIS GRACE . . TO BE RECEIVED BY FAITH?

WE ARE FREE!!! Free to enjoy this life. It’s yours, you just have to simply believe.

Freedom in Christ is freedom from rules and religion, freedom from past mistakes and regrets, and freedom to be yourself and to rest in the knowledge that you are loved.  That freedom was purchsed by the three little words from the cross, “It Is Finished!”

Rocky