Friday, March 26, 2010

Breaking Free

Jesus made a staggering promise about his ability to transform human lives when He said this;

John 8:36 (KJV)
If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

That is an incredible promise and an incredible opportunity that is available to all of us. The question is - Do you feel like your relationship with God has made you FREE? Do you feel like you are FREE?

For many Christians that's a hard question to answer because they have no idea what Christian freedom really looks like. And that a problem because if you don’t know the kind of freedom Jesus came to bring, you will only EXPERIENCE the kind of freedom people tell you can have or the kind of freedom you come up with in your own mind. And you will find yourself PURSUING that kind of freedom, most often in a religious way.

Religious ways like; human effort, self discipline, traditions and rituals, a list of do’s and don’ts, by trying harder or denying greater, doing more or disciplining more and the list could go on and on.

But you’ll never feel FREE. You’ll feel saved, maybe. You’ll feel like you’re better than others. You’ll feel good about yourself when YOU achieve, when YOU work, when YOU accomplish and follow the list. You'll feel judgemental of those who are not like you. But, you’ll never feel the freedom Jesus talked about in John 8:36.

So how do we get the focus back on the freedom that Jesus came to bring? I believe it will only happen when we come alive on the inside.

Somehow we start right, we start by pursuing and experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit. But then the focus shifts to our outward human efforts and the outward holiness requirements of the church. And this gets our focus off of the freedom that Jesus wants to lead us into.

Galatians 3:3 (CEV)
How can you be so stupid? Do you think that by yourself you can complete what God's Spirit started in you?

You can’t achieve the freedom Jesus came to bring through following a set of rules, through more discipline, through more human effort, through a positive mental attitude. You can only experience it one way - through coming and saying alive to the Holy Spirit which is in you.

Can you read the following passage and see Gods desire for you to come alive to His Spirit? Or do you focus more attention on what YOU need to do?

Romans 6:11-14 (NLT)
11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
12 Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires.
13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.

Your answer, if you are honest with yourself, is the key to you breaking free and beginning to live in the freedom that Jesus promised you.