Happy Fourth of July

Freedom in Christ = Serving God

"Live as free people, but don’t hide behind your freedom when you do evil. Instead, use your freedom to serve God." 1 Peter 2:16 (GW)

We are free. Indeed, Paul wrote in Romans that Christ set us free from the penalty of our sins.

Paul also wrote in Galatians that "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free."

And John said, "if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."

Peter, Paul and John all wrote that we are free.

We are free. Over and over they wrote about that as they do not want us to forget or to take it lightly.

Christ has set us free and that is the most liberating, most mind-blowing and the single most life-changing moment in our life.

We are free. In fact, all through out the bible, the theme was a Savior setting us free. And He did.

Some of us were not even aware that we weren't free.

Really, we weren't only slaves to those which were obviously keeping us in bondage, but we were also slaves to our limited mental capacities, to our sins, even to our vices and the enticements of this world. We may think we were free, but we were not.

But today, once again, Peter, Paul and John are reminding us that we are free.

And now that we are aware that Christ has set us free, now we are free to serve God.

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." Romans 12:1