True FREEDOM is found only through SACRIFICE – when I lay my selfishness, my insecurities, and my defensiveness aside and put GOD and others before me. A “me first” manner of life yields a dissipated caged death.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not allow anyone to put the yoke of slavery on you again. Galatians 5:1
The evil of humankind toward and against itself is more than enough evidence to eagerly embrace the existence of a compassionate GOD and the imminent necessity for the salvation from ourselves by His irrefutable grace offered through His incarnate Son, Jesus.
BRINGING DEAD PEOPLE TO LIFE
People turn to any variety of self-improvement strategies – diets, exercise, yoga, meditation, positive thinking, religion – all trying to make big people smaller, weak people stronger, dull people brighter, bad people better, and good people “gooder”…yet only Christianity deals with the principal human predicament – that of bringing dead people to life.
Although training your body has certain payoffs, godliness benefits all things—holding promise for life here and now and promise for the life that is coming. 1 Timothy 4:8 (VOICE)
And you he has quickened to life also, who were dead in trespass and sin, in which you walked in time past according to the course of this world, and followed the prince that rules in the air – the spirit that now works in the children of unbelief, Ephesians 2:1-2 (NMB)
When you were dead in your sins, you were not set free from the sinful things of the world. But God forgave your sins and gave you new life through Christ. Colossians 2:13 (NLV)
This “realm of death” describes our former state, for we were held in sin’s grasp. But now, we’ve been resurrected out of that “realm of death” never to return, for we are forever alive and forgiven of all our sins! Colossians 2:13 (TPT)
JESUS FIRST, JESUS FOREMOST, JESUS FOREVER
For in him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and in him. And he is before all, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he may hold the primacy: Because in him, it hath well pleased the Father, that all fullness should dwell; And through him to reconcile all things unto himself, making peace through the blood of his cross, both as to the things that are on earth, and the things that are in heaven. Colossians 1:18-20
“He is the Mediator of reconciliation, who procures peace as well as pardon for sinners, and will bring all holy creatures into one blessed society at last: Christ is the hope of glory…the hope in this world, the hope in our hearts.” – Matthew Henry
BE JESUS FREE!
So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free. John 8:36
Are you free – free from comparing yourself to others, competing against others, and coveting what they have? Are you free – free from guilting and shaming yourself over woulda’s, coulda’s, and shoulda’s? Are you free – free from disappointments, failures, and unmet expectations? Are you free – free from prejudice, fear, and hate toward those who are different from you and disagree with you? Are you free – free to be you and becoming the best you that you can be? Are you free?
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. Galatians 5:1
No one can sidestep JESUS forever, one day everybody has to deal with Him, and we each get to decide when and how. It can be quick and easy or long and hard – you choose.
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28-30
The nuts and bolts of the daily Christian life is a simple and straightforward state of affairs: being at peace with GOD and at war with sin.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 5:1
How will this dying world be delivered from its forever death with such a divided, divisive, and denominated Church?
I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. John 17:21
Christianity is far more than forgiveness for past failures (sins) and the confident hope of a pleasant future in heaven, it is the power of Christ and the presence of Christ with us and in us right now, in the present moment, to mesh into every part and parcel of life.
Is any human debacle more disruptive than idolatry – that of spending a lifetime, or even one day, with the wrong god?
the beggar's crumb 