So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure
that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.
(Galatians 5:1 New Living Translation)
It’s
that time of year where Freedom is the popular word. With Independence Day on
the horizon, everyone in America is out celebrating their freedom – their
freedom mostly to have cook-outs, attend parades and shoot off fireworks. Never
the less, we shouldn’t take our freedom for granted and we should remember the
freedoms our forefathers instituted.
One
of those freedoms, of course, was freedom of religion. We have the freedom –
the right – to practice any religion we choose. Many people these days
interpret that to be freedom from religion, meaning they just don’t want to
hear about anybody else’s beliefs.
But
that’s not where I really wanted to go today. The verse above is the first
verse that popped up on my Bible search of the word freedom. One of the things
that turns people off about religion is all the rules, the laws which no one can
keep.
If
you know your Bible at all, you know that the Old Testament is full of laws
which the Jewish people were expected to keep. There’s no way that anyone could
keep all those rules, or even the ten commandments. Then along came the New
Testament and the new rule – the one and only rule any of us need to keep.
Jesus
died for our sins. Our sins – all of God’s commandments that we break – were
keeping us slaves, keeping us from being free. Once Jesus was crucified on our
behalf, he took the punishment for all our sins, for all time. He set us free.
If
you don’t want any religion in your life, if you refuse to be a Christian
because you don’t like all the rules, you don’t really understand it. Sure, you
should follow certain protocols and doctrines, because that’s the way to get
alone with people and God wants us to love all people. But the only commandment
you have to keep is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’. (Luke 10:27)
Thank You Lord God for allowing me to
love You and be loved by You in return. Amen
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