La Liberté de l’Interieur – Freedom Within
A man, confined to a door-less, window-less cube is helped to freedom by a mysterious stranger. He finds that the ultimate source of freedom is found within and explores what his response should be to this liberating gift. Is giving someone else the sign as motivating as getting out of the box yourself? Why or [...]
ODB: freedom
August 13, 2010
READ: Romans 13:1-10
Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. —Romans 13:8
Long ago my wife decided that driving within the speed limit gives her a wonderful sense of freedom. She tells me, “I don’t ever need a radar detector. And I never have to slow down when I see a state patrol car or worry about paying a fine for speeding.” Even on long trips when the miles seem to grind slowly along, she sets the cruise control at the posted speed limit and enjoys the journey. “Besides,” she reminds me, “it is the law.”
Romans 13:1-10 addresses our responsibility to the authority of human government and to the law of God. When we obey the governing authorities, we don’t have to fear punishment, and we gain a clear conscience by doing what is right (vv.3,5).
Paul urged the followers of Christ in Rome to give the governing authorities what was owed them, whether taxes, revenue, respect, or honor (v.7). But he went beyond human regulations when he wrote: “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law” (v.8).
It is our duty to obey man’s law and our privilege to fulfill God’s law by loving others. And His law is “the perfect law that gives freedom” (James 1:25 niv). —David McCasland
We keep man’s law by obedience; we fulfill God’s law by love.
Source: Our Daily Bread
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Loading ...ODB: true freedom
July 4, 2010
READ: Galatians 4:21–5:1
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free. —Galatians 5:1
In 1776, the 13 British colonies in North America protested the limitations placed on them by the king of England and engaged in a struggle that gave birth to a brand-new republic. The infant nation soon adopted that now-famous document known as the Declaration of Independence.
Almost 2,000 years ago, the Lord Jesus cried out on the cross, “It is finished,” proclaiming the believer’s “declaration of independence.” All of humanity was under the tyranny of sin and death. But Christ, the sinless One, took our place on Calvary and died for our sins. Having satisfied God’s righteous demands, He now sets free for eternity all who trust in Him.
Paul wrote, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). Romans 8 assures us, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus . . . . For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death” (vv.1-2). Galatians 5:1 urges all who have been redeemed to “stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free.”
We are thankful to God for any freedom we enjoy in a nation. But above all, believers everywhere can praise Him for the freedom that is found in Christ! —Richard De Haan
Our greatest freedom is freedom from sin.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...dangerous freedom
July 4, 2009
READ: Galatians 5:1-6,16-21
Do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. —Galatians 5:13
Freedom is dangerous in the hands of those who don’t know how to use it. That’s why criminals are confined in prisons with barbed wire, steel bars, and concrete barriers. Or consider a campfire that is allowed to spread in a dry forest. It quickly becomes a blazing inferno. Unchecked freedom can create chaos.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the Christian life. Believers are free from the law’s curse, its penalty, and its guilt-producing power. Fear, anxiety, and guilt are replaced by peace, forgiveness, and liberty. Who could be more free than one who is free in the depths of his soul? But here is where we often fail. We use freedom’s luxury to live selfishly, or we claim ownership of what God has merely entrusted to us. We slip into patterns of self-indulgent living, especially in affluent societies.
The proper use of freedom is “faith working through love” to serve one another (Gal. 5:6,13). When we rely on the Spirit and expend our energies on loving God and helping others, the destructive works of the flesh will be restrained by God (vv.16-21). So let’s always use our liberty to build up, not to tear down.
Like a raging fire, freedom without limits is dangerous. But when controlled, it is a blessing to all. — Dennis J. De Haan
Freedom doesn’t give us the right to do what we please, but to do what pleases God.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...chimp eden
June 25, 2009
READ: Numbers 14:1-10
If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us. —Numbers 14:8
Eugene Cussons rescues chimpanzees. Orphaned by those in the business of bush-meat trade and taken from the jungle as infants, many have lived their entire lives confined in a space smaller than a prison cell. When Cussons arrives to take them to the game reserve he calls “Chimp Eden,” he often finds them hostile and untrusting.
“These chimps don’t realize that I am one of the good guys,” Cussons says. When he tries to put them into a smaller crate for the trip to their new home, they put up quite a fight. “They don’t know that I’m going to take them back to Chimp Eden and give them a life so much better.”
On a much grander scale, God’s offer to liberate us from the slavery of sin is often met with resistance. When He rescued the children of Israel from Egypt, God took them through difficult places that caused them to doubt His good intentions. “Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” they cried (Num. 14:3).
On our journey of faith, there are times when the “freedom” of sin that we left behind is more appealing than the restrictions of faith that lie ahead. We must trust the protective boundaries found in God’s Word as the only way to get to the place of ultimate freedom. — Julie Ackerman Link
Obedience to God is the key to freedom.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...the unpayable debt we owe
July 4, 2008
READ: Galatians 5:1-14
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free. —Galatians 5:1
Our gratitude is deepened when we remember the price others paid to help obtain freedom. In the United States, one such person was Richard Stockton.
Stockton was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was a prominent lawyer and a wealthy landowner. Because he supported the war efforts, he and his family were driven from their home. That home was sacked and burned. Stockton was imprisoned for several years and subjected to harsh treatment that broke his health. He died a pauper at the age of 51. Yet few Americans remember this hero who paid such a high price for the cause of liberty. His sacrifice is largely forgotten.
Even more important, have we become so familiar with the gospel that we fail to appreciate what our salvation cost the Savior? We rejoice in the spiritual freedom we enjoy by faith in the sin-canceling death of Jesus, but do we realize at least to some small degree the price He paid?
Are we truly grateful to Jesus for all He sacrificed to set us free spiritually? If so, we are to “stand fast . . . in the liberty by which Christ has made us free” (Gal. 5:1). No matter what else may be demanding our attention, let’s take time to remember the unpayable debt we owe Him. — Vernon C. Grounds
Salvation is infinitely costly but absolutely free.
Source: Our Daily Bread
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