Being Free
“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love”
Most of us are constantly measuring our worth and value by our actions. This means that we are still under a ‘works’ mentality- we have a sin consciousness. Sin holds our thoughts captive, it leads us towards guilt and condemnation, grumbling and criticism.
This may come as a shock but actions that are a sin for some people are not a sin for others! If you were to help an old lady across the road, would that be a sin?
Actually, the question is wrong because sin is not an action. If you were helping her because she was in need of help, then you are walking in love- it’s not a sin, but if you were helping her because you felt you ‘had to’, to be a good person or because you wanted everyone to see you being good, that would be a sin. You would have fallen short of God’s glory, you believe that your value in life comes from things you do, not by a right relationship with God.
My grandparents were Salvation Army officers. They often went to the local bar to witness and raise money for the gospel. They would share the love of Jesus with people they met. It was not a sin for them to go to the local bar. However, for some to go to the local bar is a sin, they are dependent on alcohol, they are neglecting their family and seeking pleasure from the world.
The great English preacher, Charles Spurgeon, was used by God to bring the Gospel to tens of thousands: he also enjoyed smoking cigars. This was before they knew how bad smoking was for you. (Fatty hamburgers are just as bad for you but most Christians have no problem with takeaway food.) He used to arrive at crusades smoking a cigar. Spurgeon was renowned for saying “I smoke to the Glory of God”.
Smoking won’t send you to hell, you just smell like you have been there! Most Christians I know who smoke are ashamed of it. However, God loves us as much when we smoke as when we don’t smoke. We are just as righteous when we smoke as when we don’t smoke. If people want to give up smoking they can, by the grace of God, He gives us the grace to leave behind any habit.
Sin has as much of a hold over us as we let it. When we renew our minds to the truth that we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, sin loses its power over us. If God has forgiven us and made us righteous, who are we to disagree with Him!
Galatians 5:1 says: It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Let’s set our mind on good things, not evil things. Let’s allow our thinking to be transformed by God’s Word. We are who He says we are. We have been ‘called’ to liberty, to righteousness, to a life powered by the Holy Spirit- we need to stop calling ourselves anything else!
