S23P12 – The abundant life: freedom
Rom. 6:17-18
But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
If you polled the human population, I would venture a guess that most if not all would say that they prefer not to feel tied down in life. If you look at the world of industry, there is a freedom that many strive to achieve. That is the freedom of having the time to do what one enjoys as opposed to merely working and being financially free to enjoy it. Often, that type of freedom is reached only after toiling for years to build a business or an empire that eventually one can train others to manage. This makes the founder free with regards to time and able to afford to enjoy that freedom. But what if I told you that the employee who is working his fingers to the bone fifty or study hours a week could be even more free than the one who is watching the money roll in from his palace? What if I told you there is a greater freedom to strive for than of the freedom we can gain from this world?
There are shackles that are only temporary, and then there are shackles that come with eternal implications. While we sometimes may not feel free in this world because of obligation and responsibility, the truth is that the freedom we gained through Jesus Christ has nothing to do with the temporary confines of this world. True freedom is freedom from bondage and eternal separation from God. This is the freedom from sin that we gain through our Savior. That freedom obtained in this world is a picture of the freedom that we can look forward to in the age to come. This is a taste of freedom. It is only a taste because this world still contains much evil and spiritual oppression that fights against our freedom. But in the age to come, we will simply be free from sin and all evil. They will not coexist with us at all. That is the abundant freedom that awaits those who trust in Jesus Christ.
A slave in this world can still be free. a prisoner in this world can still be free. An oppressed people in this world can still be free. No person can take from us what we receive from our father in heaven. His declarations are not merely suggestions but our factual truth. When He says that we are free, it is because we have achieved full freedom. This is regardless of our life situations and how things appear in the natural. Spiritually, we have been liberated. That is the liberty we should be chasing. It is a liberty that is everlasting. Father, remind us that we are fully free from that which binds the unsaved, and help us to walk in that freedom from sin in a manner that honors and glorifies your great name.