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!