The Truth About Freedom and Being Independent

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The enemy of our souls has forever tried to convince us that we can be independent and have complete self-sovereignty over our own lives.

However, the truth about freedom and independence is that the enemy is a liar.

Paul wrote…

Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.

Romans 6:16

As much as we want to believe we are being independent when making our choices, we are always being influenced by someone or something.

It’s true, God gave us free will, but He didn’t give it to us in a vacuum. We live among people who live among other people. So, we will always listen to and follow one voice or another. Even in the Garden, Eve listened to the Serpent and Adam listened to Eve rather than faithfully listening to God.

Paul continued…

Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.

Romans 6:19

We can choose to listen to the loud influence of the world or to the still, small voice of the Lord. We will either follow the voices that tempt us and invite us to disobedience, or we will surrender ourselves to God through faith, repentance, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

God gives us the freedom to decide, but only one way can set us free for life.

So, let’s lay ourselves at the foot of the cross in repentance and celebrate with faith the freedom Christ Jesus has for us at the empty tomb.

Because the truth about freedom can only be found through Him…

But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:22–23

We will choose a master. We will humbly give ourselves to TRUST and OBEY God, or selfishly offer ourselves to the master of sin.

We won’t OBEY God perfectly this side of heave, but because we have given ourselves to Him, we will want to show Him our gratitude and love by TRUSTing and OBEYing His will.

Let’s Pray…

A Prayer to Live the Truth about Freedom

Heavenly Father, the truth about freedom is that it is only found in Your Son and our Savior, Jesus. We want to believe we are autonomous in the way we choose to live, but we live in a noisy world full of ideas and opinions influenced by representatives of good and evil.

Your Word tells us that we are slaves to the voices we follow. We can follow Your Word and Spirit willingly, making it our heart’s desire to obey You, or we can follow the lies and temptations of the enemy, willingly surrendering ourselves to his evil purposes.

I don’t want to yield to the pride and selfishness the world waves before me. Please forgive me for offering a moment of attention to that foolishness. Thank you for Jesus, who made it possible for me to be fully forgiven.

I understand that I can be held in slavery to sin by rejecting Your love and following the world and its consequences. Or by the power of Your Spirit, I can give myself to You as a humble, willing servant. The truth about freedom is that it is a gift of Your grace through Christ alone.

It gives me joy to know that Your freedom began the moment I repented in faith. And through Your love is lasts forever and always. Thank you for Jesus, who set me free. I give myself to You in His holy name. Amen.

Rev always said that freedom in Christ Jesus meant, “I don’t have to obey. By grace, I get to obey.”

It’s the difference between being slaves held against our will and being indentured servants who love and willingly live to please the Master.

Peter Popoff wrote…

“The weight of the world is lifted off your shoulders when you turn your life over to the Lord. Let Him be your backbone and stability so you may prosper like never before. Feel the freedom of His love break through the chains of despair.”

And John MacArthur wrote…

“God’s purpose in redeeming men from sin is not to give them freedom to do as they please but freedom to do as He pleases, which is to live righteously.”

May we forever celebrate the freedom we have in Christ Jesus … freedom to live each day set apart by God’s grace to live for His glory.

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