Thursday7/29/2010 11:20:50 AM

Weekly Devotional

Celebrate Your Freedom in Christ

Scripture: John 8:36 (NIV)

John 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

As many Americans celebrate the 4th of July holiday, we are more focused on our independence and our freedom that unfortunately, others across the world do not share. However, one thing that we all can partake of is true freedom that is found only in Jesus Christ. In this particular passage of scripture, Jesus is telling us that there is a condition to unlimited and the ultimate freedom. The condition in which he speaks of is that freedom must come from the Son. This reference of the son is a self reference to who God has already established that he is. Upon his baptism by John the Baptist God is quoted as saying that “this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.” The condition of our freedom is simply that we must be set free by the power given to the one and only true Son of God Jesus Christ.

Many people across the world do struggle with having the ultimate freedom, and even when many experience freedom is often times on a very limited basis. Even here in America, where many people are free and yes we do have free will, but there are many people who feel prisoner to circumstances and situations within their own life. Even when we find ourselves in places of bondage whether it is to tradition, finances, relationships, or life in general. There is an escape to a place of true freedom and that is found in Jesus Christ. Not only does Christ provide us with freedom, but that freedom is unlimited, and it is like nothing we've ever experienced, because no one can take it away. In our relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we find there is simply that our lives have been freed from the bondage of sin and death. Christ's entire purpose was to come and to set the captive free. There is great evidence that this was a serious mission of Christ's and ought to be a serious mission of the Church. It is sad to say though that there are many churches and members of churches who have not and will not experience the freedom that Christ came for, because of their bondage to things that are not of God. Jesus even chastised the religious people of his day that they'd made the word of God of “none effect” by their traditions and what he was simply saying was that they were bound in their traditions to the point that they can not be loosed by the word of God. It is truly the word of God that will free each of us from bondage. When the apostle Paul, posed the question, “who shall deliver me from this body of death?” referring to his sin nature, he responded by saying thanks be to God for Jesus Christ. He was acknowledging that the only deliverance and the only road to freedom is found in Jesus Christ alone. The apostle Paul knew what Jesus was trying to convey to the religious people of his day that he is the word of God, he is the son of God, and he is the only one who can truly set you free. When we experience Jesus Christ in our lives we do experience true freedom, not only from sin, but also from the need of approval and validation of others and total deliverance and domination over evil.

So as we celebrate our independence as a nation let us not forget that true freedom does not come from anywhere, but Christ. America was founded on Christian principles, and at that time had no problem with letting anyone know that this nation was a Christian nation. The word of God tells us that blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Even though we as Americans did not behave this Christians there was still a foundation of Christian principles at work and the articles of the foundation of this nation. America's true freedom will come when it no longer chooses political correctness over Christianity, and it will boldly say that we are a Christian nation and the Lord is our God. As for you and I we don't have to wait for corporate America to come to this revelation, but if we do it privately before we realize it America will be back to the place that it originally was headed and that is proclaiming with boldness the Lord Jesus Christ as its foundation. We thank God for our servicemen and women who put their lives on the line for us to experience the freedom that we do experience here at home. But more importantly, we lift our voices, consecrate our hearts and submit our spirits in Thanksgiving to the one who truly died to set us free, the Son of God Jesus Christ. And since Christ lived, died and was resurrected to set us free we are truly free indeed. Celebrate your freedom in Christ by living a Christian life to the fullest: encounter God, experience God, engage God, enjoy God and establish God’s Kingdom here on earth as it is in Heaven.

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