True Dependence, True Freedom

Thursday, July 04, 2013 Posted by Debbie Legg

One of the stumbling blocks I had in accepting Christ was the fear that I would have to give up things that were fun and follow a bunch of boring rules. It took a while, but I learned that Jesus didn’t come and die to make us moral people. He came for much more--to speak good news, restore sight, free captives, proclaim God’s favor. (Luke 4, Isaiah 61)

Did you catch that? Jesus came to FREE us, from the law of sin and death to a full and abundant life. (Romans 8:2, John 10:10) We can’t do it ourselves, no matter how much effort or free will we exercise. Freedom comes only from the One who can free. (John 8:36)

Jesus frees us FROM, not only from The Law, but also from other aspects of life as a fallen person in a fallen world. Freedom from peer pressure. Freedom from worry. From addiction and idolatry. From jealousy, pride, selfishness. From the wounds we endure and from the lies we believe about them.

Jesus also frees us TO--to become all He created us to be, to pursue with abandon those deep desires He placed in us, to love as He loves us--with a love so powerful that nothing in the world can separate us from it. (Romans 8:38)

I recently heard it said that captors can make their captives do anything, even eat their own excrement, but they cannot make the captives love them. We are always free to make that choice. Freedom to love is the truest of all freedoms.

Freely you have received, freely give. (Matthew 10:8)