It was for freedom that Christ set us free. (Galatians 5:1)
This weekend, perhaps more than any other, the concept of freedom is in the forefront of our hearts and minds. We are Americans and freedom is hardwired into our DNA. But we are also Christians, and the topic of freedom comes up throughout the New Testament. In, through, and by Jesus we have been set free. That freedom came at a cost. By his own blood, the Lord has ransomed us – bought us at a price – from the oppression of sin. Paul says that “it was for freedom that Christ set us free.” Elsewhere he writes, “Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). We have been set free from sin by the Son of God who said, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).
The great paradox of this reality is that we are only truly free when we become slaves to Christ. The great Oswald Chambers once wrote, “The passion of Christianity is that I deliberately sign away my own rights and become a bond-slave of Jesus Christ. Until I do that, I do not begin to be a saint.” All of us today know the truth about God, and this truth has set us free (Romans 8:32), but that does not mean freedom to sin (“May it never be!” – Romans 6:2), it means freedom from sin – freedom from the inward principle of sin, freedom from the poison of self, freedom to be everything God ever desired for us to be in Christ. Let Jesus Christ free you to be his very own today.
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