Freedom

The Lord frees prisoners.
Psalm 146:7b HCSB

Called to Be Free was the title of the sermon at church on Sunday, so this verse jumped out at me as I was reading through Psalm 146. One point the pastor made stuck with me: “You cannot lose your salvation. You CAN give up your freedom.”

John 10:28-30 (HSCB) assures us our salvation is secure:

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever!
No one will snatch them out of My hand.
My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all.
No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
The Father and I are one.

Ephesians 1:13-14 (NIV) confirms we bear His mark:

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth,
the gospel of your salvation.
When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,

Now take a look at the following excerpts:
– “captives will be released and prisoners will be freed”  Isaiah 61:1NLT
– “For He has broken the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron apart” Psalm 107:16
– “freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free” Luke 4:18NIV

See the theme running through these verses? Freedom, specifically our freedom.

So, since we have been set free, why would we give up that freedom? (Think of the Israelites, set free from Pharaoh, yet clamoring to go back!) When things get hard, we sometimes want to return to “the way it was.” Or maybe it is fear of the unknown. Often we chain ourselves (and others) to rules and standards we have no hope of achieving on our own. We will never live up to God’s standards on our own.

Other times pride and ego stand in the way of our freedom. Or our desires. Or material things. Perhaps we have become complacent and allow the enemy to subtly trip us up. Too many times we blame our “sinful nature.” Yet our sinful nature no longer has any power except what we give it. Before long we are bound up in chains of our own making. When we realize we are once again chained to this world, we try to free ourselves but to no avail.

All our efforts will never be enough to set us free. However, Zechariah 9:12 holds the key:

“Return to the stronghold [place of safety, your fortress] all you prisoners of hope” (a paraphrase)

We need to return to our place of safety (our stronghold, our fortress) when we find ourselves bound by chains—Jesus. Only He can set us free. As John 8:36 (AMP) says:

So if the Son liberates you [makes you free men],
then you are really and unquestionably free.

When Jesus sets us free, we are free indeed. There is no one else who has that power. He is the only place we can find our freedom. The Spirit that marks us as His will always lead us back to the foot of the Cross.

When we truly understand who we are in Christ and what He has done for us, then we realize what we do NOT have to do.

• We do not have to pretend to be something we aren’t
• We do not have to live up to impossible standards
• We do not have to fix ourselves (or anyone else)
• We do not have to be bound in chains

All we must do is accept His grace

Our freedom isn’t because of anything we have or have not done. Our freedom is solely because of all Christ has done. The pastor summed it up like this:

Jesus + anything = nothing
Jesus + nothing = EVERYTHING
The choice is ours.

*   ~   ♥   ~   ✞   ~  ♥   ~   *

Lord, thank You so much for everything You have done for us and given to us. Let us be aware of anything we chose that might take away our freedom that came at such a great cost. Your Son did not die so we could continue to bind ourselves in worldly chains. He rose that we might have everlasting freedom. You are so good to us. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen – so be it!

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