Good day dear friends.
Yesterday's myth was "Christianity Stifles Personal Freedom." And for those who don't want to answer to anyone or always claim the need to be their own boss, that may be true; but to those who know the love and freedom found in Christ Jesus (Gal. 5:1), we know that that is not true. In Christ we find true freedom and in Christ and through Christ we have seen great actions of liberation take place.
Here is our study guide for today:
Monday: Personal freedom is seen in the story of a young man as found in Luke 18:18-30. Here is a young man who “had it made.” And he was seeking something important, eternal life. He thought that perhaps he could buy it. His freedom was to choose between what God wanted and what he himself wanted to do. Please read this story to discover what he chose for himself.
Here is that passage: Luke 18:18 A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 19 "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'" 21 "All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said. 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." 23 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. 24 Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." 26 Those who heard this asked, "Who then can be saved?" 27 Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God." 28 Peter said to him, "We have left all we had to follow you!" 29 "I tell you the truth," Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life."
You know the story. This rich young ruler comes to Jesus asking about eternal life. He had everything this world had to offer, he was worried about the next world. With his money he may have thought that he could buy this gift of eternal life, but that was not possible. He was a religious man, for he knew the commandments and he had kept them. But the thing holding him back was that he was possessed by his possessions and could not easily part with them. Did he have personal freedom in his wealth? The answer is no, for he was a slave to his money. Anyone who cannot part with his money because of fear is a slave to both money and fear. The one in Christ does not have that bondage, for s/he is free to overcome fear and overcome the bondage of money.
In our sermon yesterday at 11, I made mention of the times we thought we were choosing something that would benefit us in some way: that first cigarette that might make us "cool" or "with it," that first drink so that we could "fit in," and instead of being free, many find themselves addicted, thus enslaved, to these vices and not free at all. In Christ Jesus we find His liberating power to set us free from all that. In Jesus we find strength to live our lives in a liberated way. After all, we did affirm that Jesus was the most liberated man in history. His freedom, including His freedom to choose death on the cross, can bring us freedom from sin.
PRAYER: Come, liberating God and free me from that which has me all wrapped up and enslaved from true freedom. Grant me freedom and the freedom that is found only in Christ Jesus. It is in His name that I pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day!
e.v.
