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FREEDOM IN CHRIST

Rachel Mullins

 
 

 

 

 

To be free means, or so Webster says, "to be able to move, act, rise without restraint. When we use the phrase "freedom in Christ it means different things to different people

I think freedom in Christ is to know that He loves me without any conditions. Our human mind has a problem with unconditional love because humanity can’t conceive this. We are bound up by our emotions. In other words, we are uptight about Christ and our beliefs in Him. Christ has made us tree. (Galatians 5:1) but unless you have been in bondage you can’t know the difference.

We, in our church, knew all about the law. We had do and don’ts about everything in our lives . . . from the material from which our clothes were made to whether we should have marital relations on Sunday! The ministers of old sure had a lot of questions to answer.

When I began to realize that it is I who is directly responsible for my own actions before Christ (not the church or the ministry) I was scared. I had to work out my own way with much fear and much trembling and with the help of Christ, the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.

I became a person that did not know which road to take, which way to go. Settling on a long road with no end I kept praying, asking God for the help I needed and little by little I was given understanding —yet I am not completely free as He wants me to be. Because, in spite of all of my liberating feelings of the freedom and the spiritual head clearing, I still tend to return to the familiar feelings of bondage, not wanting to change or to study this subject or that, somewhat similar to the children of Israel not wanting to forge ahead, clinging to familiar old ways and afraid to walk boldly ahead into the unknown. But my desire and the desire of Christ is for me to let all of the old binding ideas of my mind be loose and free. He truly wants joy for me, and I want joy for myself. Its hard to be truly joyful in bondage. ‘Only in the freedom of Christ can we experience true joy in spite of our earthly circumstances.

I find even though "things" keep me back, I can walk taller by not carrying the load of sin on the back of my neck, that once weighted me down. Sin and guilt felt like a "millstone around my neck" so to speak. I can now look my brothers in the eyes and not feel guilt for judging them in the past. Christ is becoming my very life because I understand what it means to be free in Him.

What I did before 1990, believing that I had to measure up to the "standard" that was set for our church members, I now know that was not freedom. Somehow I know I had to be there and experience that bondage so that I can now know the freedom in my Christian walk, and to understand what Christ means when He says I am free! Romans 5:2!