Category: Freedom

Letters whose topic focuses on Freedom

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Foxes, Forgiveness, Freedom, and Romans 7-8

“O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—-through Jesus Christ our Lord!…There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus…”

And yet, I’ve been thinking a lot about sin lately. Partly because it’s the New Year and I tend to take deep stock of my life at the end of each 365-day turn of the calendar. How has God worked? Where is warfare necessary to clean up spiritual clutter and debris and re-establish a peaceful, clean, and glad soul? And partly because I have so much of it, sin, that is, and I hate it, though not as much as I want to. I tend to loathe it more in others than I do in myself. I can pinpoint it so easily in my husband and in my children, but when introspecting, I sometimes hurry through and make concessions and justifications and rationalizations for things God definitely abhors. Not the gray. Not the doubtful. The black versus the white. How many times have I asked the Lord to cleanse me, but did not follow with the hard work required for mortification of my flesh? Shallow and quick repentance is fairly easy, but it doesn’t get to the fundamentals of my heart—that it is deceitful and desperately wicked, often bearing false witness to me about my motives—making me proud with self-righteousness. So much so that God says, “Who can know it?” Certainly not I, the one who is sometimes able to be a master of hiding, deceit, refusing to be laid bare before the mirror of God’s Word. I get so weary of it, the doing, the glossing over, the confession, then the replay a few days or even hours later. I can blame it on no one else. It is I—I who chooses to sin instead of submitting to the control of the Spirit. Who will deliver me?

Which all brings me to Romans 8. And to Romans 7 before it. Chapter 7 tells me I’m double-minded about my sin. I have a love-hate relationship with some of my failings. And it tells me that Jesus is the only one who can free me from its mastery. It’s not in my will-power to do this. I’m grandly comforted because, believe me, I’ve tried on my own.

Then comes Romans 8. The pinnacle. It relieves my lingering fears, my doubts, my lack of assurance of being His. It gives me confident hope. It lifts my head, with Paul, to lofty praise for my Savior who frees me, not just from sin’s master/slave relationship but from ever being condemned for it. Because of what He did for me in His perfect life and substitutionary death, He and I now share life, He in me, me in Him. Praise to my Father in heaven who loved me so much He sent His Son to condemn my sin in His own flesh, not in mine. Praise to the blessed Holy Spirit who powerfully enables me to set my mind on Himself and holy things, giving me life and peace and the promise of being raised on the last day. I am no longer in slavery to the sin which deceitfully creeps in as I make, what appears to me in the moment, inconsequential wrong choices here and there. And sometimes the sin seems to charge in, as if unbidden, unannounced, with full fury. But sin is no longer my master, I’m told. I do not need to sin. The Spirit gives power to put to death these sins of the flesh. I need no longer be in dread of my Father. I need not hide nor dress myself in scant fig leaves.

I have been adopted into His family, my heart crying out to my benevolent Father, “Papa!” It is that intimate…that sweet. And when I fail again and again I am told that the Spirit helps me in my weakness, in my sometimes soul agony. Even when my lips fail me with words, I am told He intercedes for me with groanings too deep to utter.

The thing about true love is that it will not endure rivals. Sin is the enemy to true love on both sides. First, God, who loves and is jealous for His own children whom He has chosen, will not allow us to continue in iniquity because it displaces Him in our lives. He who is utterly sinless must reign supreme. Second, we ourselves will not keep allowing sin as the direction, the practice of our lives because that would signify we do not belong to the Savior. It is antithetical to whom we are. “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law, indeed it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.” Praise God for the tension in me when sin rears its ugly head for it is a proof of my sonship. The Spirit in me creates that agitation, grants godly sorrow and repentance, cleanses and preserves me for the Father and the Son. (Study 1 John for more on this.)

Half the time I do not know “the why” of the Lord allowing these struggles of my heart, but I’m promised that no matter what His design, what the particular lesson to be learned, even in my sin, He is the Always Good, it is for my good, making me more like Jesus than the last struggle effected. Why? He chose me to be His daughter in eternity, He called me to Himself in time and space, He made me right with Himself, and He will make me fully pure and perfectly holy when transitory earthly life ends and I am ushered into His presence. He is readying me for eternity with Him, cleansing me, changing me, making me more and more into the image of His Son.

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” He won’t bring any charge against us. He won’t condemn us for our sin. After all, “Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Nothing, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, not things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Not even our sin, if we are His. God has set us free because He was satisfied with His dear Son’s life and death in our place. He took our sin and God’s wrath. In exchange, we wear His white robes of righteousness.

I still get frustrated. I still confess my sins. I weary of my weakness and imperfect love for my Savior, depleting me of the joy of my secure fellowship with Him—and so I ask Him to give me strength and conviction and discernment to notice the “little foxes” creeping into my heart which, if left unchecked, will eat me up. I repent more quickly and deeply. I take steps to avoid the pitfalls which lunge me into my favorite sins. I work hard to stop sinning, knowing that it is God who is working in me to even want to stop falling short of His glory, of grieving Him, and giving me the power to change lest I think transformation is from me. (Philippians 2:12-13) I pray for Him to overwhelm me with His love and patience and preserving power on my behalf, assured that nothing will separate me from His love. And because He will never condemn me due to my status in His Son, I desire to not sin. I want to please Him and put Him on display in my life as an evidence of gratitude and love.

We are “more than conquerors”, says Paul, when we are born again. More than? “Super conquerors”, says one pastor. He gives power through Christ to overcome our sin, our distresses, outward onslaughts, inward stresses and temptations, and keeps us for Himself, never, ever to be lost.

Tell someone what great things He has done for you.

Soli Deo Gloria

Love,

Cherry

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits—Who forgives all your iniquities…Who redeems your life from destruction, and crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies you with good so your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” (Psalm 103:1-5)

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Let Us Choose Freedom

Dear sister,

I thought of you last night, as hubby and I did our evening reading.  J.R.R. Tolkien’s, The Hobbit was the impetus.  But first, some back-story…Bilbo Baggins is the main character in this delightful story, and at the start of the book, he reluctantly agrees to embark on a treacherous journey with some new acquaintances, 13 dwarves, and a wizard, Gandalf.  The goal?  To claim the treasure that has been passed on to the dwarves–if they can make it through Mirkwood forest and past the dragon.  At many points along the journey, Bilbo wishes that he never agreed to this.  But {spoiler alert!} once he acquires the ring, and learns that it will provide invisibility; he becomes quite a leader among his fellow travelers.  He is able to help them through many a pinch, and the incident we’ll discuss is no different.  The problem is that the dwarves are not that excited about his method of escape from their current dilemma:  capture by the Elvish King. 

”Bilbo saw that the time had come to explain his idea, as far as he could; but he did not feel at all sure how the dwarves would take it.  His fears were quite justified, for they did not like it a bit, and started grumbling loudly in spite of their danger.  ‘We shall be bruised and battered to pieces, and drowned too, for certain”‘ they muttered.  ‘We thought you had got some sensible notion, when you managed to get hold of the keys.  This is a mad idea!’ ‘Very well’! said Bilbo very downcast, and also rather annoyed.  ‘Come along back to your nice cells, and I will lock you all in again, and you can sit there comfortably and think of a better plan–but don’t suppose I shall ever get hold of the keys again, even if I feel inclined to try.”

Perhaps you see the corollary?  At times, I see myself in the same situation as the dwarves…hearing the Lord’s voice leading me out of a current entrapment with sin…{have you been trapped in sin, sister?}.  Isn’t it easier to remain trapped, than it is to risk freedom, and the treacherous path to get there?  We choose the comfortable, but deadly route, when freedom is right around the corner, beckoning us to come near.  I have chosen my imprisonment far too many times.  

As Christians, we are all moving from death to life, through the process of sanctification; we face trials and circumstances that we would rather avoid. But these very trials (and joys) will be a part of the training ground our Father has planned for us.  What about you?  What lays ahead for you?  May I challenge you to turn your mind to the battle that Christ won on the cross? Galatians 5:1:  “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

Freedom is yours dear sister, if you will accept the journey…even if reluctantly, like Bilbo.

Fighting with you,
Ruth

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Free to Love

My Dearest Sister,

I have noticed in recent years that there is a growing epidemic of what I have decided to call “freedom entitlement.” You have undoubtedly heard the expression “freedom is not free.” Well for some it’s not. Those who value it have given their time, their money, their talents, and their lives all in the name of liberty. They know that they have a responsibility to uphold it. To many others though, particularly my generation, freedom is something that they are born with. It is inherently “theirs” and is as much their right as anyone else’s. And to them it doesn’t mean that they have a responsibility, it means that they can do whatever they want with no restrictions or rules. As long as they don’t physically hurt someone, why should anyone care what they do? It is, after all, a free country, right?

As much as some would like to believe to the contrary, freedom is just not that cut and dry. Even the most important freedom we can have, the liberty from sin that comes with a relationship with Christ, comes with responsibilities. Yes, God did loose ours binds to sin when He sent His Son to die on the cross, but He did not set us free in the world so we could do whatever we want. Romans 6:18 is very clear about this: “And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.” You and I may have been born again through the grace of God but it doesn’t stop there: God designed salvation as a 180 degree turn around. We are not to keep holding on to that chain of sin nor are we to just stand in one place, unmoving. Instead, we have been called to strive in the opposite direction, toward righteousness.

As you may well have observed, a lot of people who call themselves Christians seem to have this part down. They measure everything in their life by whether or not it is good or pleasing to the Lord. They don’t watch any R rated movies, they don’t drink alcohol, they don’t curse, they wear modest clothing, they read the Bible, they go to every Sunday morning service (and Sunday evening service… and Wednesday Bible study… and Thursday prayer meeting… and so on). They say their prayers before every meal and before bed and first thing in the morning. But you know what? These are the same people that stand on street corners with signs that say “God hates sinners!” and “Repent, or burn in hell!” These are the same people that carelessly judge others, that declare everyone who is not as righteous as they are as inferior and condemned. Do you know what Jesus called these religious kinds of people? Pharisees and hypocrites! Do they not know that Jesus himself ate with sinners? That he listened to their problems and healed them? Jesus has a heart for the lost and if we profess Christ as our Lord, then so should we.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for living a life of righteousness; the Bible calls us to do so. However, leaving sin behind and striving toward holiness is only the first part of the story of our freedom. The second is much deeper. In fact, it’s the very reason Jesus was sent to this earth: Love. That simple four letter word is at the heart of it all and I am amazed at how often we miss it entirely. “For God so loved the world…” remember? Love was the reason Christ died on the cross, and it is the reason God puts up with us every day.   Try as we might, we can never live righteously enough to be worthy of our Father’s affection. He gave it freely. And because He gave it freely to us, so are we to give it freely to others. Galatians 5:13-14 sums it all up very well: “For you brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’.” You see, because love fulfilled the law, we no longer live by the law but by love. It should be the rule by which we measure everything else up against.

So sister, we do have a great freedom in Christ, but with this freedom comes a responsibility. It shouldn’t be used to do whatever we want, and it shouldn’t be used to live a hypocritical life, judging others. It should be used to serve one another with the love this world so desperately needs to see. While striving toward righteousness is important, living to love is imperative! It’s the whole reason God sent his sinless, perfect Son to this earth to be sacrificed for our sins. Love is what loosed our chains and set us free. So embrace your freedom, sister. Live to love!

 

Your liberated sister in Christ,

~ Lauren Titcomb

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Freedom in God’s Will

My dearest sister,

Do you ever fret about which school to go to, which job to take or what house to buy? Do you worry that if you choose one path over another that you’ll miss out on what God had planned for you if you had chosen differently? Are you waiting for signs to appear and peace to befall you before you make a decision? I have been there, dear sister, and I know that it is a difficult place to be. For the Christian, decision making can often be confining and make you feel like you’re walking on a tight rope because we are doing our best to follow God’s will for our lives. We don’t know what God’s will is for our lives when it comes to what school to go to, what career to choose, what man to marry or what house to buy or how many kids to have. This is why we (or at least I) often feel constrained when faced with a choice and always fearful of making the wrong decision. 

I struggled for days and possibly weeks to decide whether I would go to Stetson University or Florida State. I prayed. I weighed the pros and cons of each. And then I prayed some more. One day I would lead toward Stetson, the next I would want to go to FSU. I continued praying, wondering if God was ever going to “tell” me what school to go to. Still, after more praying and weighing of both options, I didn’t feel “God leading” me one way or the other. One day my dad told me that I had until the end of the day to make a decision. Yikes! The prospect of making such a decision in a matter of hours was not welcomed but by the end of the day I had decided to go to FSU. The decision had been made and there was no more going back. 

Recently, I read a book on discerning God’s will and it has completely liberated me from this sort of experience in decision making. It is called Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung. Though it is geared toward younger people the principles he lays out in his book can be used by everyone and applied in every stage of life. In short the book explains that we are not meant to know what God’s hidden will for our lives is. All we can know for certain regarding His will is what He has laid out in Scripture. God does not expect us to know where He is taking us before we get there. He doesn’t expect us to know that we need to go to this school or buy this house in order to accomplish His will for our lives. More than that, He doesn’t plan to tell us in advance, before we make life-changing decisions. 

So what can we do if God isn’t going to be putting up big red blinking arrows in the sky for us to happily follow along our way? We must search the Scriptures. There we will find the principles needed to make every decision we will ever be faced with. We must use these principles, check our motives, and finally ask God to grant us wisdom. And then we make the decision. We don’t wait for signs. We could end up waiting a long time and never do anything! What’s more, if we are looking for a sign are we really trusting God? If God “tells” us, “Yes, you must go to school here or buy that house” are we taking risks for Christ? Does not God desire us to put our trust in Him unreservedly?

So dear one, dig out the principles of decision making found in God’s word that He has given to us. Pray for wisdom and just do something! God’s will is not a tight rope as we often imagine it to be. But know that there is freedom in Christ! Freedom to obey His word, freedom to trust Him and freedom to make decisions without lying fleece on the ground. So stop living in fear that you are “missing out” on God’s will for your life if you make a decision without signs or visions or that supernatural peace that we often talk about. The only way to miss out on God’s will for your life is to not do anything at all! 

Your liberated sister,

Kayla

KBM

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Radical Freedom

Sister,

“Choose Freedom!”  I said to my fifteen-month-old daughter Annabelle as she once again reached out to play with the computer cords.  I had already begun training her not to grab the cords in the house, as they can be dangerous if pulled and yanked.  She looked back at me slyly as her chubby fingers barely grazed the cords.  “No Annabelle,” I said to her quietly.  She continued to stare me down while carefully caressing the cords.  I could see her little mind wrestling between her perceived freedom of touching and grabbing everything she desired, and the real freedom of obeying her mom.

Aren’t we all like this?  We truly think that freedom is doing whatever we want when we want.  But in fact, that is anarchy and chaos.  If everyone does what is right in their own eyes, societal orders collapse and individual freedoms soon follow.

So, how can we choose freedom?  Freedom implies that we are a slave to something.  One thing all of humanity has in common is that we are a slave to sin.  No matter what country you are from, no matter who your parents are, no matter what age or maturity level you have obtained, you are a slave to sin.  The Bible teaches that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 6:23a).  Annabelle knew she was not allowed to touch the cords, yet she was compelled to touch them because she is a sinner.  Me too!  I know I should be patient with her and my husband but how quickly I choose impatience and anger.  The Bible also says that the wages, or cost of this sin (disobedience to God), is death.  DEATH.  Death is no joking matter.  Scripture describes death as a real place, hell.  Hell is where God pours his wrath down on sinners.  There is fire, gnashing of teeth, and separation from all that is good and right, God.  We are a slave to THIS!  THIS sin that God will punish in eternal hell.  Stop and sit on this fact for a bit.  The longer you think about how completely hopeless, painful, and abhorrent God’s wrath in hell is, the sweeter the freedom of Christ will be to you.

The rest of Romans 6:23 says, “But the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”  He died for us when we were still sinners (Rom 5:8).  When believer’s eyes are opened to the utter slavery of their sin and the freedom that came through faith in Christ, our joy abounds!  We have been set free from the ultimate penalty of sin and have the ultimate freedom of heaven!  I can hear you now, “but I still sin!”  “I still want to touch the cords!”  “I am still impatient!”  Yes, we still have our moments of desiring perceived freedom, but real freedom is walking in the righteousness that Christ has already given us.

So sweet sister, no matter where you are in life, there is freedom for you.  If you have not yet put your trust in Jesus, you can have the freedom from the ultimate penalty of sin.  Trust that He paid the price for your sin by dying on the cross and rising again!  He took on your filthy sin and put His righteousness on you instead!  What an amazing gift of freedom!  And fellow sister in Christ, you are free to walk in His righteousness!  Your righteousness is not based on what you do or don’t do.  Your freedom does not rely on your good or bad works, it relies on Christ alone!  So be radically free!  This gospel is for you!  There is freedom in obeying Christ!

~Colleen