Not just free!

Are there degrees of freedom? Can we be partially free?

Our Pastor (who also doubles up as a part-time Prison Officer) has told us about prisoners who become ‘institutionalised’, i.e. they become comfortable with the routine of prison life; they stop thinking for themselves and let others govern their lives and actions. These guys struggle when they are released because the prison no longer runs their lives. While having freedom they are mentally imprisoned still to their prison life; they continue to behave like inmates.

We too can suffer from a similar thing ourselves. We come to Christ and something unexpectedly wonderful happens – we find ourselves set free; free from our sin and its [eternal] penalties. We can barely believe it; can this really be happening to us! We are excited and full of joy. But when the adrenalin rush of our new life wears off we find ourselves still hanging on to our failures; even though we walked free of them we find ourselves picking them up again because we struggle to understand our lives without them. But that is not the life that God has planned for us, and took delight in preparing. We are not just free – we are abundantly free!

“Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making.” Eph 1: 7-9

Rejoice! You are free.
How you failed yesterday does not hinder you today – you are free!
Just because you refused to be obedient to God last week does not mean that he’ll never trust you again. Say sorry and make yourself available for service – you are free!!
You are ABUNDANTLY free!!!