Freedom Isn't Free

Usually when you hear about the topic of freedom, it is Memorial Day and the 4th of July.  Memorial Day---the day we focus on the members of the Armed Services and their time and effort to keep the United States free.  The Fourth of July---the day we remember the United States becoming free in the first place from England.

So why I am taliking about freedom in January?  There is something I want to share with you.  It is a point of rejoicing for me. Remember the three parables from Luke 10 of the lost things and each time there was rejoicing when the lost was found.  Well, I am not rejoicing over anything lost being found...well maybe.

Tuesday, December 28th I did something that I had not done for about two years.  I went into Walmart.  Due to my health I always sat in the car while Jane went in to get whatever I needed.  On this day, I decided I was going into Walmart.  Jane dropped me off at the door.  I sat on the bench in the entrance while she parked the car.  Then we went in.  I looked at the wheelchairs...too narrow for this big guy.  So I hopped on one of the scooters.  It wouldn't move.  While I was trying to figure out how to drive this thing (I mean how hard could it be) another customer on a scooter came over to park hers and offered it to me.  I hopped on her scooter and I was off running (so to speak).  I had total freedom and I felt it.  After awhile, I was leaving Jane and exploring on my own (they had rearranged the Walmart since I had been in it).  Jane was so patient with me.  She would come looking for me and then I would take off again.

Just as that scooter gives individuals freedom, Jesus came to gives us freedom.  John 8:36 records Jesus's words:  "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."  Now what Jesus is talking about here is the freedom from sin.  If we have repented and been baptized, we have been freed from sin.  Paul wrote to the church in Galatia not to use their freedom to continue in sin (Galatians 5:13 NIV).  Paul wrote to the Roman church not to keep sinning because we know God will forgive us (my interpretation; read Romans 6:1 and 2).

                                                                       

Jesus not only came to free us from the penalty of sin.  Romans 6:23---"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life." Jesus dies and rose again to conquer death.  Paul wrote to the church in Corinth about this. Jesus not only came to free us from sin, Jesus came to give us the victory over death.  It's right there in black and white (as they say) recorded in 1 Corinthians 15:55-57.

I am so thnakful that Jesus has set me free of my past life.  No, I am not one who believes in reincarnation.  I am referring to the past life (the life I was living) before I was a Christian.  1 Corinthians 5:17---"If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come."  How do we get "in Christ"?  Galatians 3:27 tells us that anyone who is baptized clothe themselves with Christ.  When you get dressed, you are in your clothes.  When you get baptized and remain faithful (John 15:1-6), you are in Christ.

Just I enjoy the freedoms we have living in America, and the freedom I had in Walmart, I so much more enjoy the freedom from sin Christ has given me.  And some day, I will have the freedom over death and rise to go to my new home in Heaven. 

Free in Christ,

Jeff