Galatians 5:1 Stand
fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free and do not be
entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Musing on freedom this morning...
As Citizens of the United States, we love our freedom, or so
we proclaim. If you listen, however, to
an Immigrant from an oppressed country and compare their view of freedom to a
Citizen that was handed freedom as a birthright, there is a marked
difference. The Immigrant has such a
love and appreciation for the freedoms protected by our Constitution because he/she
has had to FIGHT oppression. Over a couple hundred years, some of those
freedoms have been severely eroded or simply slipped away…and we adjust because
those freedoms didn’t really affect us that much anyway. We who were born under the Constitution of
the United States, mostly, take freedom for granted because it has always been
available and we assume FREEDOM JUST
IS!!!
We are all born into OPPRESSION
because we are all born under the Curse of Sin. Jesus Christ made a way that we can all be BORN AGAIN under HEAVEN’S CONSTITUTION. At
first, as NEW IMMIGRANTS in the
Kingdom, we have such a love and appreciation for our FREEDOM from sin. We stand proudly at attention, joining in when
our anthems are sung and unashamedly spread the message of our new
Kingdom. Our “Constitution” is kept within reach so that it can be referred to
frequently. Then something happens and
our freedoms are slowly and silently stolen; we barely notice because we have
begun to take our FREEDOM for
granted and we assume SALVATION JUST
IS!!!
FREEDOM doesn’t “just
happen,” it must be FOUGHT FOR
and PROTECTED. This fact is painfully apparent in the world’s
history. Since its inception The United
States, has attempted to “export” this great American Idea of
freedom to the oppressed citizens of dictatorial regimes. Our military makes short work of the
oppressors, the people are handed freedom and we all rejoice. But then something happens…there are always
more oppressors just waiting in the shadows for their opportunity. Slowly and sometimes not so slowly, the
Oppressors move in and the citizens, who never learned to FIGHT FOR and DEFEND
their freedoms which were “given” to them by someone else,
find themselves once again enslaved and oppressed.
We have been given FREEDOM
FROM SIN through SALVATION by
the BLOOD OF JESUS but there are OPPRESSORS just waiting in the
shadows. Satan will constantly present
opportunities to tempt us to hand over our freedoms. Religions develop “regulations” and sign “Executive
Orders,” slowly eroding the freedom given you by God. The biggest threat to our FREEDOM IN CHRIST, however, is our own
desires, distractions and malaise, in which we merely lay down our freedoms
because we think FREEDOM AND SALVATION,
JUST IS!
Until you’ve been in the “trenches;” until you have
stood and FOUGHT off the oppressive
invaders; until you have DEFENDED the
“Liberty
by which Christ has made you free,” you will never appreciate this
great SALVATION of which we are
blessed to be partakers. Mama can’t give
it to you; it can’t be inherited and neither the “world” or the “church”
can take it away, if you will STAND UP,
FIGHT and DEFEND the freedoms JESUS
DIED to give you.
Have a blessed, joy-filled day.
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