Devotion #4: True Freedom
Freedom is a bird soaring in the sky, a person found innocent leaving a courtroom, or a child running without restraint. Is this true freedom, though? Sometimes, things are not what they appear to be. A soaring bird may be frantically looking for a meal for starving chicks in the nest. A person leaving a courtroom may be innocent of a crime, but life is forever changed, and they are financially broke from paying legal fees. A child may be running free, but watching from a window is a parent who will dash out if the child strays too far. So, while these look like freedom, they are not true freedom.
The Bible speaks of true freedom. It speaks of a freedom we can only understand if we experience salvation through Christ Jesus. If we are followers of Jesus Christ, Romans 8:2-4 tells us the Spirit sets us free: “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Without Christ, we are condemned and sin-filled. John 3:18 states, “Whoever believes in Him [Jesus] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). That is a heavy burden to carry, yet many people carry that weight daily, not even aware of its weight.
In Christ, we no longer carry that weight. According to Romans 8:2, the law of the Spirit of life has set us free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
Freedom in Christ is knowing condemnation is gone. Sin is gone, and our wages are no longer death. We have eternal life because our sin debt was paid in full by Jesus. We are free to live confidently and do the will of God. We do not bear the weight of the fear of eternity. We do not bear the weight of the wrath of God. We do not bear the weight of trying to please God. We are truly free. We are free to walk as the Spirit leads us. Eternity is secure and does not depend on our performance at all.
That is an amazing freedom. Imagine if you were found guilty of a crime you had committed, but because you chose life in Christ as payment for that crime, the judge says, “You are guilty, but you do not have to go to jail, you do not have to pay any fines, you do not have any probation, and you do not have to live in fear of the law tracking you down. Just go into the world, and do not be the criminal you once were.” That is complete freedom. The Spirit’s freedom is not because of anything we do but what Christ did. That is walking according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. Our flesh wants us to accomplish something to deserve or earn salvation, but nothing we do, no matter how wonderful, is good enough to purchase salvation.
We have complete freedom. It is freedom to live for Christ without the burden of guilt, without sadness for sins past, present, or future, and with freedom from self-pity and frustration. As a child of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. We are free to speak God’s truth and to love others so they find forgiveness and freedom, too. So, serve Jesus with your whole heart and enjoy true freedom.