Maintaining our freedom (4)

In the previous blogposts we have taken a closer look at biblical freedom. It is God's will that Christians should live in freedom. We are no longer slaves and we should not let ourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery... by nothing and by no one. Freedom does not mean we can say and do whatever we want (that would be anarchy), but biblical freedom means being free from sin, shame and guilt (and many psychological and physical problems that are often the result of this). That kind of freedom is only available through grace and our faith  in Jesus Christ.

Biblical freedom is also the freedom to choose. Galatians 5:1 says It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. It is somehow possible to become enslaved again. 2 Peter 2:19 clearly states that a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. Let's ask ourselves what has mastered us: worries, depression, sickness, addiction? We are meant to live in freedom; to not be a slave of anything or anyone. The apostle Paul gives us the key: stand firm then. In other words: protect your freedom, stand in the gap for your freedom, because the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. Let me put it this way: the freedom Jesus offers us is a gift, maintaining that freedom is our responsibility. For that purpose God has created us with a free will, we must do our best to make choices in order to maintain our freedom.

Making the right choices actually means to live a 'holy life'. When I was younger I thought that people who lived so called holy lives were boring; we used to make fun of them. Thank God I have learned that holy living means I have to make choices: one time for Jesus and after that every day... I must choose to do what my old nature wants (also called 'the flesh') or what the Holy Spirit wants. The Holy Spirit lives in every believer and talks to every believer, but quite often we are not so trained in listening. We need to silence many other voices (radio, television, news paper, thoughts, talking etc.) to hear Him. We must learn to listen in silence.

In order to stand firm we must make the choice to live a holy life, this choice is two-fold:

• We must purposely separate ourselves from sin, and
• we must purposely seek fellowship with God

Separation from sin means: not doing what everyone else is doing, saying no when we need to, never acting without thinking, but asking for guidance and listening. Seeking a closer fellowship with God can be trough our heart (prayer), our soul (music, worship), our mind (studying the Word) and our strength (service). In order to stand firm and to keep our freedom, we need to make the right choices, every day!

In the next post we will take a closer look at freedom from guilt and shame.