|
Freedom in Christ
Victoria Boyson
www.boyson.org
Many years ago when I was very young
in the Lord, I found myself in a church that did not believe in Jesus Christ. Well, they believed in His life, death and resurrection, but not in the liberation of the Good News He has us. They proclaimed their salvation came
through Christ, but without realizing it, that freedom had been replaced by a man-made set of religious rules.
One day while attending church, I suddenly realized that most of these people had no true Savior. They
hadn't a Savior because they did not see their need for one. They were relying on their own righteousness for their salvation found in the adherence to the "laws" they had set up and taught. At times, their teachings
were so complex, I felt I would never be right in their eyes.
When I first met these people, I thought I had found giants of the faith. They seemed to know so much more than I. As I grew to know them better, I realized I
would never be able to please them. Their rules and regulations concerning Christianity could never be lived up to or satisfied. And, they were continually coming up with new rules as well.
Moreover, the freedom and joy
I had found when I first began to know Christ were slowly and methodically being stolen from me. I undoubtably would have succumbed to their way of believing altogether if it were not for the teachings of my beautiful mother.
My Mother's Faith
She had a simple and loving faith in Jesus that, to a religious eye, might have appeared childish and insignificant. But in reality, her love for Christ went much deeper than theirs. She
lived in the joy of her Savior daily. She loved Him and He loved her - she knew that to be true and lived it with great confidence and peace.
When others would come and try to complicate her faith, she would brush aside
their complex teachings with the grace and faith of a child. With a few simple words she could stop the flow of these "nonsensical teachers" that seemed to know so much more than she. Oh, they indeed wanted to
"help" her and set her straight, but she would just smile and love them because she had something they had yet to realize: freedom in Christ!
She knew Jesus! And it was only from truly knowing Christ Himself
that her freedom came. She did not know Him through the puffed up knowledge of "learned Christians," she knew Jesus personally and talked with Him and spent time in His presence.
In man's eyes my mother was
never anyone great. She was never a teacher, preacher or lecturer - she was simply a child of God. She knew her heavenly Father and therefore had the wisdom of heaven in her heart.
My mother died when I was
sixteen, but before she died she shared her Jesus with me. But throughout the years, in my pursuit to know more of God, I almost lost the simple, child-like faith she taught me. It was only in remembering her and the love and
genuineness of her faith that I found my way back into His arms.
Freedom Must be Fought for
Paul said in Galatians 2:4-5, "...some so called Christians came to spy on us and see our freedom in Christ
Jesus. They wanted to force us, like slaves, to follow their Jewish regulations. But we refused to listen to them for a moment. We wanted to preserve the truth of the Good News for you."
Paul and the other apostles
were continually trying to restore the simple message of the Gospel to the Christians and protect them from the complicated deceptions of the enemy. He said plainly to them, "You are already following a different way that
pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who twist and change the truth concerning Christ" (Gal. 1:6-7).
Back then, the apostles were the light that kept the
twisted darkness of exception at bay. They fought to keep others free from the religious bondage that Christ had liberated them from.
However, we know from church history that shortly after their deaths the church did
succumb to the bondage of legalism and they lost the freedom of the Gospel message. In doing so, the world entered the darkest time in history known as the Dark Ages.
It remained oppressive until the truth of the Good
News of Jesus Christ was recovered by many brave souls who fought for truth, and for some, it cost them their very lives.
We must fight to keep the simplicity of our faith alive, defending the message of love and mercy.
If we do not fight for these things, we will lose the freedom we found in our First Love, succumbing to a twisted gospel that complicates even the smallest truth, leaving us to falsely rely on self-righteousness for our
deliverance.
Our First Love
Jesus alone can save us from sin and He alone can deliver us from evil. And it is only when we return to our First Love that our light will shine in the darkness. For as we shake off
the bondage of religious legalism and the condemnation that thwarts our love for Christ, we will be changed into His image and given the ability to change the world.
There is no "new gospel." All we have is the
truth that Christ died to set us free; He alone carries the power of life. Jesus is the key to our freedom. We must allow Him, through His love and truth, to unlock the jail cell of our religious bondage, and help us live in
the liberty His love brings.
Return to your First Love. Live in Him and let the light of Christ dispel all darkness. Shake off the twisted teachings of a man-made gospel and return to the simplicity of loving Jesus.
He loves you; simply love Him back. Live in that love everyday, and watch Him transform the world through you.
Please pray this with me:
Dear Lord,
Help me to truly know You and love You - to abide in
Your love and to feel Your love for me. Show me the truth that will set me free and make me an ambassador of Your Good News!
|
|
