Romans 8:1-2 (NIV)
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
2 Corinthians 3:17 (NIV) 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
There are many scriptures on freedom. This morning I have been thinking about the sacrifices made for our freedom in America. Sacrifices were not only made by soldiers who lost their lives, but by thousands more, called mothers, fathers, and family. Those who lost their loved ones or suffered permanent injury while fighting, suffered longer for our freedom than those who were killed.
I have learned a lot in the last weeks about the freedom we have to worship in this country or maybe I should say the freedom many don't have in other countries. Thousands have paid for their beliefs with their lives. Death is the beginning of so many new things. Jesus' death on the cross was the ultimate beginning for us.
He asks us to be born again and die to self, which when compared to the death He suffered doesn't seem like it should be enough. The freedom that comes with our old self dying is bigger than I had realized. Being born or reborn may happen in minutes but the process that follows takes time. Freedom from bondage, freedom from sin and even freedom from our small lives. If we choose to follow, He tells us there is no more worry about being fed, clothed, or where we are to live. If you completely die.
There is a mourning with death. Some days I find it very difficult to let go of the old me, not because that is who I want to be, but because there is security in the familiar. But to follow requires movement. It's not easy to move when in bondage or loaded down with fear, anger, the past, and all the other baggage. So like a nurse cleans a baby after it is born, Jesus washes us in the blood and if we let Him, we find a freedom unlike anything we have known. What do we do with that freedom? What do we do with the gift of free will?
Become a slave?
As we consider what a bond slave is, we first need to realize the difference between a servant and a slave. A servant gets days off, but a slave is a slave for 365 days a year. A servant has discretionary money he can spend on whatever he wishes. A slave has no money of his own; if he wants something, he must ask the master for it. A servant can marry whomever he wants. A slave must marry whomever the master tells him to marry. A slave has no possessions of his own, no rights, and he is obligated to do whatever the master commands him to do. In return all needs are met.
Freedom means choice. We have the freedom to worship or not to worship, follow or not to follow, love or not to love, forgive or not to forgive, become a slave or remain in the uncertainty of freedom.
In America today as we celebrate our freedom, we have no fear of armed men rushing into our homes to tear it apart searching for religious literature, no fear of being hauled off to prison for being a believer, and no fear of watching our church leaders shot before our eyes. Though we have been warned to be ready for one guest. Jesus, invited or uninvited?
“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
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