If ever, then, the Son should be making you free, you will be really free
Johns Account 8: 36, Concordant New Testament Translation
I used to wonder what it felt like to be free in Jesus. Free of the guilt, shame and condemnation of organized Christian religion. See, those within the church will toss around the phrase "Freedom in Christ" as if it is something attainable by only those living the most righteous of lives. Therefore, I always believed that I would never experience that kind of freedom. I was a sinner, at least that's what I was told every week when I sat through another church service. I was a sinner in dire need of God's forgiveness. Never mind that Jesus has already given Himself for that very thing {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 5:21}. Despite all of the scripture passages proclaiming that I do indeed enjoy that which I thought would always elude me, The church continued to tell me that my sin somehow remained unforgiven. It wasn't until my mother passed away and I dropped away from the church for awhile that I began to put two and two together. It wasn't God Who had been condemning me all those years, but those within the church. It is Jesus Who has proclaimed that the Son has indeed made us free {Johns Account 8:36}. THIS is the freedom which we all have within Him. But far too many believers, still stuck in the bondage perpetuated by the teachings of the church, have never experienced that freedom which Jesus has given to us. The freedom which took me a good portion of my life to come to know. What is it like to live my life in that freedom which I have in Jesus. Well, for lack of a better description, I feel free. Free of that sin moniker which the church imposed on me for so many years. Free to know that there is nothing which I will ever do or have done which God has not already forgiven me for. Organized Christian religion will hang that sign around our necks, the very words spoken by Paul that "All sinned" {Paul to the Romans 3:23}. Of course, they conveniently omit the very next verse, in which Paul claims that we are "Justified gratuitously in His grace, through the deliverance which is in Christ Jesus" {Paul to the Romans 3:24}. Yes, I was a sinner, but through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, I am one no longer! And that's not just my freedom which I have found in Jesus, but for all of Gods children. For, as in Adam all perished in sin, in Jesus all have been made alive {Paul to the Corinthians (1) 15:22}.
Bondage is a tough thing to overcome, I know this from my own experience. It was never physical chains which held me captive, but the false teachings I grew up believing. That I was a sinner, and it was that very sin which had separated me from the God Who has created me in His likeness [Genesis 1:27}. Through these false teachings, I was led to believe that the perfect love of God has limitations. That He loved me enough to create me in His likeness, but I could negate that by messing up somewhere along the way. Therefore, I saw Gods love as being conditional. At least this is what we'll hear preached from the pulpits of the church. But the apostle John has revealed to us the truth of nature of the Fathers love. That His love has never been conditional at all, but that the true nature of God...is love {First Epistle of John 4:8}. It is through His love for us that He dispatched His Son to be that propitiation for us {Johns Account 3:16-17}. It is through His love that Christ Jesus has given Himself to sin "Once for all time" {Paul to the Romans 6:10}. It became clear to me that the only condemnation I would ever receive came not from God, but from those within the Christian religion. One of the passages which opened my eyes to this truth has been spoken by Paul in his evangel. Paul speaks to the truth that we no longer live a life of sin, but in the freedom which we have within Christ Jesus. Paul proclaims that "We, who died to sin, how shall we still be living in it?" {Paul to the Romans 6:2}. Knowing this, there is nothing I can do that has not already been forgiven through the love and grace of God. THAT is living in the freedom of Christ Jesus. The church might toss around the phrase freedom in Jesus like a catch phrase, but I'm living it every day. It has never been Jesus who accuses me {Paul to the Romans 8:34}. On the contrary, it is Jesus Who has assures me that the chains of bondage instituted by the church have been broken forever {Paul to the Galatians 5:1}. It is Jesus Who has set me free, and I am free indeed!
For freedom Christ frees us! Stand firm, then, and be not again enthralled with the yolk of slavery
Paul to the Galatians 5: 1, Concordant New Testament Translation
~Scott~
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