Simply Angie
I’m often disheartened when I see how the world is turning more and more away from the truth of God’s Word and following the lies of the devil. In the Garden of Eden, the serpent successfully deceived Eve into believing that she was ‘free’ to eat the forbidden fruit. She did eat it, and gave it to Adam, and he ate it, too. Yes, they had the ‘ability’ to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but they didn’t have the ‘right’ to eat it. God had commanded them not to eat it and warned them clearly of the consequences. Some dangerous teachings have permeated the Christian world that have come straight from Satan’s playbook. He is happy to have God’s people revel in their ‘liberty’ in Christ, as long as they believe this freedom allows them to do whatever they choose to do, regardless of God’s will in the matter. Is this the freedom we have in Christ? No, indeed. We are not free to sin. We are never free to sin. As born-again believers, we are free from the bondage of sin, and its hold on our lives. We are free from the penalty of sin, and the eternal damnation that we deserve. We are free from the guilt of sin, and the shame that it brings us. This is freedom! We are loosed from those chains of guilt, shame, bondage, and eternal consequences. Though once we were the servants of sin, we are no longer bound. Now we are free to be the servants of righteousness. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. We are no longer enslaved by our carnal nature. We have been given a new divine nature. We now have the power and standing of a child of the Most High God to live in a way that pleases Him and brings the praise and honor to Him that He deserves. Please be careful of the deception of Satan that has crept into Christianity, whispering that you are free to live however you want because of forgiveness and grace. Remember the price of that forgiveness. Jesus bought us with His own shed blood; His death, burial, and resurrection. We are His! What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, Am I still a slave? A servant? A prisoner? Yes, I am! We have the freedom to choose Masters, and I have changed masters. I chose Jesus. Instead of a master who hates me and wants to destroy me, I have a Master who loves me and gave His own life to save me. My new Master always has my best interests and eternal good in mind, regardless of circumstances. Does He sometimes ask me to do hard things? Yes, He does. The beauty is that He does those hard things with me, giving me the strength, wisdom, and ability to do them for Him. The Lord Jesus Christ is a wonderful Master. He rewards and blesses His children with His presence and His presents. The blessings I have received from His hands are enumerable. And this is only the beginning. He promises me even more than I can ask or imagine. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. ~John 8:36 I cherish my freedom from the curse of sin. I’m so grateful to be free to serve my Savior. I understand that freedom from one Master brings service to another. I like the way Joshua put it when he challenged the children of Israel more than 3000 years ago. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. Dear Christian brothers and sisters, when you choose Christ, you choose freedom from Satan’s power and dominion. You also choose to be under God’s power and dominion. That’s the choice I made. All other choices and gods (even self), leave you under the thumb of the evil one. Be warned. With the evocative allure of promises of freedom to do our own will, our enemy seeks to bring us back into bondage through deception. He whispers words of ‘freedom’ and ‘rights’ and ‘liberty’ and even ‘grace.’ He manipulates and twists the Scriptures, just as he did when tempting Jesus in the wilderness. Like Jesus, we must know and understand God’s Word and use it rightly as a Sword to fight back against our enemy with truth, righteousness, and holiness. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. To me the choice is clear. I chose Jesus more than 50 years ago, and I would choose Him again today. I cherish the freedom I have as His servant, His daughter, His beloved. He has given me the freedom to do what is good and right. The freedom to strive to become more like Him in service and humility. Though often I stumble and fall, I will continue to rise up again and exercise this freedom until I see Him face to face. I look forward to bowing before Him in gratitude, servitude, and thanksgiving for His amazing grace. Love and blessings, P.S. Before you go, let me encourage you to pop over to angieberg.com and check out some of my Christmas recipes and ideas. I’ll be adding more over the next few weeks. If you’ve got some to share, I’d love to see them. You can add your own and even upload photos. Have fun! Talk to you again soon. Can’t wait?
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Friday, December 8, 2023
Cherishing Our Freedom
