True freedom comes when we trust Jesus to save

This is written on Independence Day in one country. However, that independence can be celebrated everywhere as freedom from all the problems the devil throws our way.

Without God, we are still in our sins. As mentioned numerous places, such as here, Sonship doesn't mean physical relations (the Arabic Walad"), it means that Jesus is the very essence of God, having every attribute, etc. (the rabic "ibn"). "In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."(Colossians 2:9) "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God....and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us"(John 1:1-,14) "I and My father are one."(John 10:30) Many other verses also point to the fact that Jesus Christ is God in flesh, and "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."(1 John 5:12)

That eternal life - life which begins at the moment you trust Jesus Christ to save you, so you can have life more abundantly as the previous post discusses - is only a single, sincere prayer of repentance to Jesus Christ away. As shown right on the front of our ministry site, simply Admit you're a sinner, Believe Jesus Christ died to take the punishment for your sins and rose from the death, and Call on Him to save you and forgive you and make you new inside. You can do that right now.

However, it is not just frreedom from sin.

Some cultures place a lot of emphasis on the collective. There is a sense of shame in not being like everyone else. However, that shame vanishes when we trust Christ.

Imagine being the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8. He was the first person in his country, most likely, to receive Christ. Even if he wasn't, there have been others who were in their countries. (After all, someone had to be first.) Those firsts represent the potential for God to use that person to liberate their whole society. Everyone they come in contact with is someone else who can be saved from the punishment deserved for their sins, that being eternal separation from God forever in a place called Hell. Hell was only prepared for the devil and his angels that rebelled(Mat. 25:41). People go there because they haven't trusted in God's free gift of salvation. And yet, how shall they hear without someone to tell them.

That is the wonderful thing about being the first in one's family. If a person is a Muslim, or a Hinfu, or a Buddhist, and nobody else has believed, then they are together burdened by the shame of not knowing Jesus. And yet, they only have to come to trust Him to save them, and then who knows, their faith might lead others to trust in Jesus Christ to save them fromt heir sins.

There is also freedom from fear. Fear of evil spirits, ancestors, and other things haunt many people. However, these spirits are nothing compared to God and His wonderful love. We fight a spiritual battle every day, but we don't have to do it alone. In fact, we have no chance to win alone. We must rely on Jesus Christ to win that battle. But, the wonderful thing is, we know that He will. The Bible tells us so.

So, when we trust Him to free us from that fear - and 1 Timothy 1:7 promises He hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind - we can be certain that we will only have a healthy respect for God the way we have a healthy respect for a hot stove. We're not scared of it, but we also know not to touch it becasue we'll get burned. However, we will not be scared, because God has freed us from the burden of our sin.

Romans 8:1 promises that "There is now therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." The stains of our sins have been washed away. He has removed them as far as the est is from the west, and will remember them no more.The devil may try to remind us of them, but we can be sure that God has promised that Jesus Christ has taken all of them upon Himself.

What amazing freedom! It's so wonderful to be independent of the devil and his wiles, and of the string of death. When we are, we cleave to Jesus Christ not because we have to, but because we want to out of our love for Him.  After all, we can't serve two masters - Jesus says we'll love one and hate the other or vice versa. There is no possibility of ignoring both of them.

So, the question is, are you giving God your most today. Are you celebrating freedom by honoring Him not because you have to, but because you want to? That is the only way to do it, because we can't be saved by works, only by grace along through faith alone in Christ alone.