What is Freedom in Christ?
You may have heard the saying “live free in Christ'' at church Sunday school or from your Christian friends. But have you ever taken the time to understand what it truly means to live free in Christ? Does it mean we do anything we want? No. Does it mean we live as will-less robots to God? Nope. In today’s video, learn what true freedom in Christ is and how to live free. Enjoy!
Freedom is defined as “the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint” by the Oxford language dictionary. We see this definition has two parts: one: I can do what I want, and two: I have no restraints or hindrance preventing me from doing what I want.
This is how much of us think of freedom. Freedom in Christ however doesn’t mean to do what I want, but to do what God wants for me. Now to many, that may not sound like freedom. It may actually sound like slavery. And it doesn’t help that in much of the New Testament, we hear the apostles call themselves slaves and servants to Christ. We would not think to use the term free and slave together.
What we have to realize is that God is not master in that He forces us to follow Him. Instead, He gives us free will to choose if we will follow Him or not. In Deuteronomy, He says:
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20 ESV))
God gives us a choice: life, meaning follow Him, or death meaning not following Him. Now this is not a test of our intelligence because God gives us the answer: choose life. Still, He does not force us. We have the free will to choose Him. To allow Him to lead our lives if we so choose.
We must ask ourselves, however, if God is not leading our lives, who is? If we are not being led by God, we are on the other hand being led by our sinful flesh and its desires. Because we are all sinners, there is no getting around this and you may know this from personal experience, but the flesh and our sinful desires are no good leaders. Our sin cannot be controlled. You give it an inch and it will take a mile. It will always want more and more from us. This is why the Bible says that before knowing Christ, we are slaves to our flesh. Ephesians 2:3 tells us:
“All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature, we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else. (Ephesians 2:3 NLT)
So here’s the truth: we are either slaves to Christ or to our flesh. We serve God or sin. There is no in between. The difference is when we serve Christ, He leads us to a life of joy, peace,and salvation. We are free to enjoy a relationship with God that was once hindered by our entanglement with sin. On the other hand, when we serve our flesh, it leads to death and separation from God. Galatians 6:8 puts it this way:
“For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” (Galatians 6:8 ESV)
Freedom in Christ means God grants us the power to overcome our sinful flesh and choose Him. The truth is, without Christ, we don’t have the power to choose God because of our sinful nature. Ephesians explains our situation before accepting Christ like this:
““And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” (Ephesians 2:1-3 ESV)
Notice the scripture doesn’t say before Christ, we led our own path, or that we charted our own course. Twice, we are called followers. Before Christ, we followed this World. We followed “the Prince of the power of the air” or Satan. We were called children of wrath because even if we wanted to choose life, we couldn’t because we were slaves to sin. There was no hope for the freedom to choose life. Until Ephesians 2:4, where two words change everything: BUT GOD. It reads:
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—” (Ephesians 2:4-5 ESV)
God through Christ, saved us from our sinful nature and made us alive in Christ. This means we now have the power to choose Christ. We have the FREEDOM, which we didn't have before to CHOOSE LIFE. And that is what freedom in Christ means. Galatians 5:13 says:
“For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.” (Galatians 5:13 NLT)
Freedom in Christ is the power to choose life in Him so that we may live for Him. But we can’t do this without Him. Freedom in Christ opens us up to the joy, peace and life promised to those who place their faith in Christ. We can’t obtain this freedom on our own, but Christ obtained it for us. Galatians 5:1 tells us:
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1 ESV)
Freedom in Christ is receiving the power from God to choose life. So Beloved, choose well.
Now I would love to hear from you Beloved! How are you living out your freedom in Christ? Let’s encourage one another in the comments.
Want to learn more about how to live free in Christ? I invite you to join our Beloved Women Bible Study “Called to Freedom: A Study of Galatians to Learn How to Live Free in Christ.” This video series walks you through the book of Galatians to help you live free from pleasing people, comparison, guilt, and more so you can truly embrace the freedom you are called to in Christ. Join now by becoming a Beloved Women member at belovedwomen.tv or download the Beloved Women app available in the Apple or Google play stores. I look forward to studying with you!
Thank you so much for watching and until next time, be beautiful, be blessed, and beloved.
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