YOU ARE NOT FREE UNTIL YOU ARE FREED
The story is told of a woman who was once offered a free ride to her village after a Good Samaritan observed how tired she was from carrying a heavy load on her head. The woman was so grateful to the Good Samaritan, but insisted on still carrying her load on her head even while seated in the car because she did not want to further burden the car of the Good Samaritan.
As absurd as the story sounds, this is the story of many Christians today. I have had encounters with many Christians who say that they have given their lives to Christ but are yet to experience the freedom that comes with being a Christian. What kind of freedom is this even about?
For the Christian, his/her freedom is first and foremost from sin— the source of all the woes of this world. Myles Munroe used to say that the world in Genesis chapters one and two were great until chapter three when sin came into the picture and everything began to change. When someone comes into Christ, the greatest sign of freedom is the victory the person has over sin. There are many verses in the Bible to confirm this, including 2 Corinthians 5:17. Here, we read that he/ she becomes a new creation and his/ her old life is replaced with a new one in Christ Jesus.
When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and personal saviour, we truly have defeated sin, only it’s a legal victory. We therefore need to take what we have received and enforce the truth of it in our lives in order to appropriate it vitally or really. It’s no surprise then that John records these words in John 8:31-32 (we are fond of only quoting verse 32 when to fully grasp the entire import of what Jesus was driving at we need to read both verses.
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said,”If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Jesus was saying in those verses that freedom only belonged to those who held on to Him and knew His truth. Every Christian who wants to experience freedom must know God’s word and hold on firmly to it. In Galatians 5:16 the Apostle Paul says the same thing albeit in another way. He advises Christians to walk according to God’s word and they shall no longer behave like the people of the world.
Another scripture that Christians need to know and hold on to is Romans 8:1-2 where we read that those of us in Christ are no longer condemned. How amazing to know this? Condemnation is what Jesus removed from the woman caught in adultery before she could stop sinning. The major cause of the bondage of sin is our inability to understand that it takes a condemned mind to do condemned things. Everyone who has given His life to Christ must realize that God is longer holding his or her sins against them. This liberating thought can even help us begin the journey towards real freedom after being freed legally by the finished works of Jesus on the cross.
You are not free until you are freed.
This article was first published in the second issue of GNOMIC magazine.
