Use Your Freedom, For Others

Good Morning!! What is Freedom?...that's going to depend on who you ask. Ask a child, and they'll say no more school. No rules, no parents to tell them what to do. No accountability for their whereabouts. As kids, some of us dreamed of having just that kind of freedom. But in time, we have to learn that freedom is more than living without structure or rules. Even as adults, some still think that freedom means no responsibility, no accountability. They can have children and not take care of them. They can cheat on their spouses, steal from work,...take and never give. But the truth is; that for freedom to really mean something it has to have a price, a cost,....and someone to pay it.

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.—Romans 6:14-15 (KJV)

The wages of sin is death.(Romans 6:23) Jesus died to pay that debt,...that you and I owed, Freedom needs a foundation and a purpose, to make it valuable. Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, affirms freedom as an important part of the Christian life. But he also says to use this freedom for service and love. If you except this freedom,...paid for with the blood of Jesus,...then you'll want to reach out to others,...praying for them, leading them to God's gift of love.

This debt that was paid, for us, can never be repaid. All we can hope to do, is make an effort, to show our application and gratitude,...that others too, might be saved.

"I don't think about what would be good for me,
but about what would be good for many people so that they might be saved."

(1 Cor. 10:33, GWT)

....the next time you're tempted to engage in a silly squabble, whether inside the church or outside it, refrain. When you do, you'll put a smile on God's face,...and you'll send the devil packing."

(Praying for our Marriage: 100 Devotions and Prayers for Husbands and Wives, ch. 69)