More thoughts about freedom – Think about this.....Americans don’t have to live under the control of the Japanese government, the government of Great Britain, or the government of any other nation we’ve encountered in battle. Why is that? The answer is simple. It’s because WE WON!!! We don’t have to live under the control of a defeated enemy. We are free as Americans because the victory was ours.
Because of the victory Christ won on the cross, our ultimate enemy has been defeated. Satan was defeated forever and we are free to live in Christ’s victory which includes victory over the power of sin in our lives.
But how does that play out in the reality of our lives every day? How do we LIVE in that victory over sin? Well, it has a lot to do with being free from the law. It may seem that focusing on the law would keep us “in line” and away from sin, but in reality it’s a focus on the law that sets us up to sin!
Paul encouraged the Galatians to stand firm in their freedom in Christ and to never be tempted to get tangled up in bondage to the law again. (Galatians 5:1) That’s because sin finds strength in the law!!
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. I Corinthians 15:56
When preachers and teachers try to motivate Christians to the right behavior by using the law, they are only setting them up for defeat. Here’s how that works:
One Sunday morning our church drainage system malfunctioned and every restroom in our church had to be closed. I spoke to a woman after church who said that she had never before sensed a need to use a restroom at the church, but on that Sunday she wasn’t even able to concentrate on the service because she kept thinking she had to use the restroom!!
If you’re on a diet and you spend all day reminding yourself that you can’t have fried chicken what will you end up doing? You’ll go out and get yourself some fried chicken before the day is over!
That’s how it is when we focus on the law. When we keep our minds on the law that points out sin, it actually makes us want to sin. But when we realize that we don’t have to focus on what is right and wrong so that we will only do what is right, then our minds are free to focus on Christ. And when we stayed focused on Christ, the last thing we’ll want to do is sin!
To be continued....
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