As our Independence Day approaches, I’m thinking about the truth that freedom is never free. We live in a free country, but it cost a great price. People paid for our freedom with their blood.
There are many kinds of freedom, and the word is often used loosely. What some call freedom may really be bondage to lusts or other sins. True freedom is when we are free in God to live and move and have our being in Him. It costs us in areas like fighting the good fight of faith, casting down thoughts contrary to the Word of God, exercising spiritual discipline, guarding our hearts and minds in obedience to the Lord.
John 8:36 says, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” Our personal and eternal freedom has been paid for by the blood of Jesus, yet it only is obtained by faith in Him who has delivered us from the curse of the law: poverty, sickness, and the second death (Galatians 3:13).
We need freedom to forgive ourselves and others. All salvation is centered in forgiveness. God not only forgave you, He has forgotten your sins as though they never happened. When we don’t forgive, we really are binding the other person. God has freed us so we can release ourselves and others, for forgiveness frees both.
The only way to be set free is to know God’s Word and use your faith. If you keep thinking about sins you committed, you haven’t accepted the freedom God provided. Rehearsing the past is not freedom. Choosing to believe Jesus freed you from the curse of the law is walking in newness of life. It is a choice.
Ask the Holy Spirit for help. Call upon Him, and He will minister the way for you to be free to serve God with a full and true heart. When you are free internally to obey the truth of God, it is no struggle. Then you really have obtained the ultimate freedom.
