Freedom For Today

Take a moment to read Romans 6:12-23 before reading the devotional below.

If you can’t tell, I’m all about freedom. The life Jesus offers us does not begin when we get to Heaven. It starts right now. If you are a human being, you have been trapped. You have experienced being stuck or being in bondage to one type of sin or another. There’s no point in comparing sins, because all of them own us without Jesus. Today Paul is writing about how to live a free life. It starts by giving yourself completely to God.

There are few things we do “completely” anymore. Most products are made to break and be replaced, a half-job is fine if you can get away with it, and we often expect that whatever we don’t finish someone else will come along and do for us. We have gotten sloppy as a culture, so the idea of giving ourselves completely over to God may be a bit beyond our immediate comprehension. Pause and think about every aspect of your life. Family, work, money, home, community, hobbies, sports, etc. Take a minute to make a list of everything in your life. What would it mean for you to turn all that over to God?

Here’s your freedom for today: in God’s kingdom, you are free. God will never make you a slave, and you can be sure of that because throughout the Bible we are told that we have a choice. “Give yourself completely to God” is an action only you can take. He’s not going to capture you and enslave you. Satan is happy to do that and sin is his heavy chain. With God you are free to give it all or not, but if you want his life-transforming power you can only access it through total surrender. What are you holding on to today? What has a hold on you? Whatever it is, it will kill you. Take a gift of freedom from Jesus today and let go of anything you can.

Take a moment to read Romans 6:1-11 before reading the devotional below.

If grace is too good to be true (see yesterday’s post), then we don’t have to worry about what we do, right? The more we mess up, the more grace there is. We don’t need to worry about whether we get it right because God will cover us. Paul begins today’s passage with this very question, and he shows us it is the wrong way to think.

Sin hurts you. Even after you are saved and you have welcomed God’s grace, sin hurts you. Sometimes  it hurts other people too. We don’t want more of it in our lives just to get more grace. We already have enough sin when we are aiming for a better life. We don’t need to give ourselves any excuses to make poor choices. Accepting Jesus means entering a kind of death — a death to sin. When you accept Jesus, you are spiritually resurrected into a totally new life. The power of sin is broken and you get to live a whole new way.

Here’s your freedom for today: sin doesn’t define you anymore. Sin can’t hold the same grip on you when you know Jesus. The Holy Spirit moves into your life and starts making some supernatural changes. Sometimes those changes are obvious, like the woman I met this week who was supernaturally freed from smoking addiction after an encounter with God at our church. Nothing fancy, no big production, I don’t think anyone even prayed with her. There, sitting with herself and in her own conversation with God, he set her free in that area. Other changes are more gradual — how you look at other people or the world, what you truly want in life, how you find meaning or value in things you do. As you watch chains break in your life, you start to explore what a new life with Jesus can mean for who you are. You’ll never be the same, that much is guaranteed.

I’d love to hear stories of how you have experienced freedom in Christ. Comment below to share with us!

Take a moment to read Romans 5:12-21 before reading the devotional below.

My children often express anger at Adam and Eve for sinning. Apparently they believe they could do better when faced with temptation — a test they fail nearly daily when playing with toothpaste and mouthwash in the bathroom… But they are right, it isn’t fair that we all have to live under a curse just because of their decision to sin in the Garden of Eden. They invited sin into the world and handed their authority over to an evil serpent. Now we are stuck with the consequences of that and there is nothing we can do to fix it.

The good news is that God is unfair in the other direction. Jesus removed the consequences for our sin in one fell swoop. It’s not fair, but it works in our favor. You didn’t ask Adam to sin, and you didn’t ask Jesus to undo it. But you experience the pain of the former and the freedom of the latter.

Here’s your freedom for today: grace is too good to be true. God established his law to illustrate the pain and consequences of sin. These are very real consequences (as we all know from experiencing the fallout of our own poor choices), and they are the operating system of this evil world. God’s kingdom is different, and his law is completely unnecessary in his kingdom because sin is not present. Once you are forgiven and accept this forgiveness from Jesus, you get to participate in a life in which sin no longer controls your destiny. You have a greater power to say “no” here on earth and you have an eternal home that is sin-free. If all of this sounds too good to be true, it is. For this world. But in God’s kingdom what is true is defined by what he says and does. In his kingdom, he says you are free.

Take a moment to read Romans 5:1-11 before reading the devotional below.

If you went to a restaurant and at the end of your meal the waiter told you someone had already paid your bill, you would probably feel surprised and confused. Who did this? Is it really okay for us to just leave? You’d probably leave an extra big tip, feeling a little insecure about getting a free meal. But if you considered it a blessing from God, you would probably celebrate and thank him for the unexpected gift. That is a little bit like our salvation through Jesus. He’s paid? Really? I don’t have to settle up with God myself? Maybe I can do a few good things to make sure I’m really all set…

If you’ve been a Christian for any length of time, you know that acceptance of salvation is only the beginning. Jesus never promises us a stress-free life after that. In fact, the spiritual journey is one of continual growth and patient endurance. But all the hardship and suffering will be worth your while in the end. God is storing up blessings for you for all of eternity.

Here’s your freedom for today: God wants to bless you even when you are messing up. Sometimes we imagine that God is up there silently disapproving and disappointed when we sin or go astray. When we do the right thing, we imagine that he is happy and will “reward” us for good behavior. All of these ideas are a result of behaviorism and reward-based parenting styles. When you read the Bible, you find that God just really likes to bless you and he’s not waiting for you to get it right. These verses tells us that anybody would be willing to die for a good person, but only God is so loving that he died for us while we were his enemies. Now, because of Jesus, we can be friends of God. Just pause on that today. Friends. God considers you a friend because he makes impossible things possible.

Take a moment to read Romans 4:13-25 before reading the devotional below.

Most 99-year-olds probably figure that their child-bearing days are done. If God told you that you were going to have a whole lot of descendants and you would be the “father of many nations,” yet you were aging out of that possibility, you’d probably figure you heard wrong. But God doesn’t consider earthly possibility a limitation. He does what he says he will do. Period. It doesn’t have to make sense, seem likely, or be humanly possible.

Abraham followed God, but he wasn’t perfect. If you read his story in Genesis, you’ll see that he even tried to take God’s promise into his own hands by sleeping with his wife’s maid. He had faith even though in that decision it led him into a poor decision. He believed. He waited. He never gave up hoping. That’s what relationship with God is all about. Jesus made it possible for all of us to enter into relationship with God through faith.

Here’s your freedom for today: you can keep on hoping. When you have faith, you keep your eyes on eternity. Life on earth has its ups and downs, and I often ask myself, “Does this daily trial or trouble matter in the spectrum of eternity?” If I keep saying yes to God and doing what he says (things like love God, love others, forgive everyone in the same way I hope God forgives me), then I’m living my life as a life of faith. Any obedience on my part is because of my love for God and my desire to serve him, not an effort to earn a spot in his kingdom. When we stop trying to earn God’s favor, we begin to demonstrate hope and faith. Everything becomes about his kingdom, not our own striving.