Just last week we celebrated Memorial Day here in America. Each year we take time to remember those men and women who during a military conflict gave their life for our country. All over the United States, thousands of American flags or decorated wreaths are laid at the tombstones of these fallen heroes. We acknowledge that their service and death has allowed us to live as a free nation for hundreds of years.
However, over two thousand years ago, there was a man who also made the ultimate sacrifice. He wasn’t in the military, but He was fighting a war that no human could ever imagine. This man did not die for just one country, but for the world. In doing so, Jesus broke the chains of sin over our life, purchased our freedom, and made us co-heirs to an eternal kingdom.
Yet, we struggle with this concept of true freedom in Christ. Perhaps at the center of it is the battle we have with a range of emotions that hint to us that our freedom may be just an illusion. If our emotions continue to well up and douse our confidence time after time, we feel less and less certain that freedom is truly ours.
Something in our psyche just cannot keep this principle in the forefront of our thoughts – that who the Son sets free, is free indeed (John 8:36). What is it about our spiritual man that struggles to believe that Christ’s work on the Cross is complete and forever?
Whether it is the ups and downs of everyday life or a major challenge that hits us from behind, sooner or later we once again come face to face with our humanity. In those moments, we struggle with whether we are spiritually free. Therefore, whether you have been a Christian for a few days or even several years, remembering how Christ won our freedom and the fullness of that freedom must be an intentional act on our part.
For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. Colossians 1:19-20 NLT
There it is in black and white. It couldn’t be any plainer, could it? Paul tells us in Colossians that He made peace with everything. Perhaps the problem really comes down to the everything part. Does God really mean everything as in everyone.
There are so many days that I totally mess up. How about you? Can God truly be at peace with us and us with Him? Aren’t there rules we still need to follow in order to be made right with Him? Isn’t the shame, guilt, insecurity, and sadness we feel still an issue between God and us? Can our past really stay our past?
Ever had any of these thoughts and questions run through your mind? – I have!
Perhaps, I just don’t understand the depth of freedom I have available to me. Seriously, I’m just an everyday girl trying to make good on this life God has blessed me with while I keep all the plates spinning in the air! Yet, I believe in Christ. I know that He lived, died, and rose again. And there are days I feel bold and confident enough to walk in that freedom, but those days seem so few and far between. Why am I scared to show all that I am in Him?
This was me, my thought pattern, my feelings as recently as a year ago, but today, I am starting to truly understand my freedom in Christ, and I want EVERY woman to experience it!!!
Let’s go a little further in Colossians. Here is what the next two verses state:
This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. Colossians 1:21-22 NLT
I AM HOLY and BLAMELESS! In other words, I’m free! And, guess what? So are you! If you have placed your faith in Jesus, you are free my friend. He has purchased us with His blood and reconciled us completely and fully with God. Why do we let the weight of that escape us at times? Why do we feel the need to continue to work toward freedom instead of just walking in it?
I think part of the problem is our confusion between what culture says about us and what God has proclaims about us. Culture says we are free only if ……. Only if we don’t mess up again or only if we keep it all together are we free. God says we are free by His grace. Period.
I challenge you to take these verses and make them more personable to yourself and then REPEAT them over and over until you get them deep down in your soul. Let’s practice!
This includes you (insert your name) who were once far away from God. You (insert your name) were his enemy, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you (insert your name) to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you (insert your name) into his own presence, and you (insert your name) are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.
How does that feel? Pretty freeing, I hope.
Lord, forgive us when we forget the price you paid for our freedom. Forgive us for not walking in that freedom daily. Give us the wisdom to discern how our freedom can be used in Your perfect plan to bring others to You. Help us not to abuse that freedom, but to always use it for the greater good. There are people in the world who are dying to know the true feeling of freedom. May our lives shine Your grace and draw them to the only One who can truly set them free. Amen.
Founder, Transforming Love Ministries
Creator, She Steps Forward Women’s Conference
Please note all scripture was taken from the NLT – New Living Translation
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.