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Freedom. It was the final cry of Mel Gibson in Braveheart, the thing that Andy dreamed of in Shawshank Redemption, and the driving force of Spartacus. Clearly freedom is something worth having, worth risking it all for, but why? Freedom is important to people because it is just that, freedom. You are no longer bound to anything or stuck anywhere, forced to do something you don't want to do anymore. Your chains have been loosed, the rope cut, the walls broken. You can step out and do whatever you want because you are FREE.
The Bible talks about freedom too, but more specifically, in Romans 6:3-7, it tells us not only that we have freedom, but how it has been given to us already; all you have to do is accept it.
3 Or don't you know brothers, that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through the baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves to sin-7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. (NIV, emphasis added)
There it is, right at the end of the passage. "no longer slaves..." and "freed from sin." If we are a part of Christ, meaning we have given our lives over to him and accepted Him as our Lord and Savior, we're free.
What does it mean to be a slave to sin? It means that you really don't want to look at that pornography, but you do anyways because you are addicted to it, it means you can't stop drinking even when it's clear you've had enough because you are hooked to it, it means you want to clean up your act and stop lying or cursing, but you can't because you can't think any other way. Being a slave to sin means you cannot get away from it, period. Christ is the way to break that addiction, and all you have to do to free yourself is ask Him to do it for you.
Now here's an important note; when you do this you will not all of a sudden stop sinning. That's not how it works. You will still sin, but you won't be a slave to it. You will have the ability to walk away if you ask God to help you. The "close" button will become bigger, you will be more conscious of your behavior, and you will learn to think before letting loose a curse word. God may not immediately change your situation, but if you let Him, He will change your behavior. That is where your freedom comes from, from allowing God to work on you and mold you. Once you take Him as your savior, you have a new life that is not in bondage to your sin. God broke those chains through His son, and all you have to do is ask Him to take your life, to bury your sinful self so you can be resurrected free of your sin.
Some may think, "How can he say accepting Christ is accepting freedom? Christians have more rules than I care to remember." This is only partly true; God does give us commands, things He asks of us, but 1) we can't possibly complete them, hence the necessity of Christ and 2) if we truly love Him, we will follow them willingly. This is a deep topic that is worth exploring later, but for now I'll leave it at this; if you truly love someone, you will find yourself doing things to please them and actively avoiding things that displease them. God's commands are Him giving us detailed instructions of how to please or displease Him. He says, "Don't lie" because lying is disobeying and disappointing Him, He says "love your neighbor" because that pleases Him. He isn't asking us to follow a bunch of rules, that's called legalism and Christ actively opposed that. He wants us to be free from our sin so we can choose to love and worship Him through our actions.
So if you find yourself suddenly in the grip of sin, reach out and ask for your freedom. Ask God to come into your life and set you free. He will hear you and help you, and I promise the feeling of being set free is amazing. If you think you've already given your life over but still find yourself struggling with sin, renew your commitment. He has given you the ability to walk away, you just need to ask Him for the strength to do so. I urge you to think about this and reach out if you have any questions. You can come to me and I will help to the best of my ability, and if I can't I can direct you to someone who can.
God bless,
Mike
