Posted on August 31, 2023 by Elizabeth Welte in Victory Call
Freedom.
O how I love freedom – my freedom that is blood-bought by Jesus Christ my Savior.
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. Romans 8:36
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1
I know what it is to be in bondage – the bondage of fear and anxiety, the bondage of depression, the bondage of people pleasing, the bondage of self-centered sin. Thirty-five years ago on July 1st, Jesus saved me, redeemed me, and broke my chains of bondage. He made me a new creation. That all happened in an instant but it has taken years for me to appropriate that truth. I am truly free and on my journey with Jesus, he is graciously, lovingly and very patiently teaching me how to live in that freedom.
Do you have your own story of Christ’s redemption in your life? Are you experiencing the glorious application of your freedom in Jesus Christ? I do hope you are.
Have we arrived? Nah, but we are on our way. Rejoice in that truth, sister. One day when we are Home, we will not only be free from the power of sin[i] in our lives but the very presence of sin. Can you imagine?
Hang on, we are about to turn a corner here. Stay with me.
One reason I love my freedom is because I am no longer law-bound. Yet, even in light of all that Scripture says about our freedom in Christ, there is one thing that supersedes my freedom. For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Galatians 5:13
Love.
‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Matthew 12:31
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing…. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. — 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, 13
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8
Which do we love more? Do we love our freedom more or do we love others more? Hmmm.
Yes.
Sometimes we love our freedom more than we love others; sometimes we love others more than our freedom.
If I exercise my freedom without consideration of others in the process, I am failing to love them. I am misunderstanding and misusing my freedom in Christ. According to 1 Corinthians 13, without love I am a noisy gong, a clanging cymbal; without love I am nothing, I gain nothing.
Praise God that because of the Cross we are set free to love others more than we love our freedom.
So which do you love more?
[i] For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Romans 5:14
Written by Diane Hunt: Diane Hunt serves on the board of America’s Keswick and is the Executive Director & CEO of Changed Choices, a Christian non-profit in North Carolina. She is also a biblical counselor and women’s event speaker. For more information about having Diane speak at your next event please contact her at dhunt@americaskeswick.org.
Think About This: “Overcomers are not perfect. They fail just like the rest of us, but they keep on getting up, keep on repenting, and keep on being willing to surrender themselves to Christ and letting Him, who is the only perfect One, work through them.” ― Nancy Missler
The Daily Bible Reading: Ezekiel 5-7. You can download our 2023 Daily Bible Reading Plan by clicking here.
This Week’s Verse to Memorize: “Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.” – Hebrews 8:1-2
Consider a retreat at America’s Keswick retreat center.
