I'm Free

Freedom is an interesting thing. So is perception.

To Lalaith and Threnody, Christianty was bondage, a set of chains that held them back and held them down and impressed upon them unhappiness. So they left, which is only natural.

The interesting parts are the theological things that bothered Lalaith when she was a Christian. In this blog, she talks about feeling the pressing weight of being forced to share the gospel with everyone that she came in contact with because God required it of her; there's also reference to the ever-popular question, "If God is good, why do bad things happen?"

There is a large misconception here right off the get-go. Jesus said, "If you love me, you'll keep my commandments." He never said, "If you keep my commandments, you'll love me." The love pre-dates the keeping. You don't keep His commandments and GROW to love Him. You love Him; therefore, you keep His commands. If someone feels they're being forced, cajoled, or blackmailed into doing something, they AREN'T doing it out of love. If I feel like my husband is forcing me to make dinner, I may make dinner, but I'm not doing it 'cause I love him.

Secondly, though Christians are commanded to share the Gospel, we're not supposed to be shoving it in everybody's faces. Sometimes, you have to be very careful about how to present things if you don't want to needlessly give people a negative impression.

Thirdly, God never put the weight of saving people on His children. Christians don't save; Jesus saves. We can tell people about Him, we can exemplify His love; we can't save. Jesus paid the price; the Holy Spirit is the One that regenerates them. Yes, God uses people to tell others and people get saved only after hearing the Word of God; BUT, Christians aren't held accountable for the saving of souls. If I told every person that I met about Jesus and His salvific work on Calvary and none of them got saved, that's not on me. I can't save them; it doesn't matter if I say things eloquently or if I trip over every other sentence. If God is going to save them, they will be saved. If He isn't, they won't.

This doesn't diminish my responsibility to know what I'm talking about, or to be careful to answer questions correctly or anything. I still need to be studying and praying and seeking God's face. It just means that a person's never-dying soul is not my responsibility. God never put that on us.

The second point: If Almighty God is loving and good, why do evil things happen? Basically, because God is more than just love and more than just good. God is holy; God is just; God is merciful; God is gracious; God is humble. If we had never sinned, God would never have had reason to show His mercy to us. If Jesus had not come to die, we should have never known the extent of God's love or the immensity of Christ's humility. If God never judged, we could not witness His justice and wrath and hatred for sin.

It's not God's love alone that makes Him perfect or makes Him God. In order to show His Person more fully, God allows sin to happen. The really fun part is Romans 8:28, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." The thing that glorifies God most is also the thing that is best for His children.

Last of all, I want to mention the name of the post. Is there freedom outside of Christ? In a way. God created people logically. That is, we cannot go against certain logical things that are built into us. One such thing is the fact that whatever choice we wish for most is the choice that we will always take. For example, if I see strawberries in my fridge and I want them more than I want to leave them there, I will eat them. Something else would have to come and displace that desire in order for me NOT to eat the strawberries. I will always choose that which I most desire.

This is as true for the unbeliever as for the believer. The difference is that the unbeliever cannot ever desire Christ more than themselves; the Christian can. This is because, in being made alive, we can see Who God is, and every time we look at Him, we will want Him more than anything else. I can do that which is right now; not by my own strength, by Christ's. Now I can leave the proverbial strawberries in the fridge for Him, rather than eating them myself, and I can do it out of no other reason than because I love Him. This is the freedom that I have in Christ - freedom from bondage to sin, from having to always choose something less than perfect, something less than God.

To whatever you love, you are a slave. Whether it be Christ, money, physical pleasures, etc. Whatever you love most will be your master. The question is not, "Are you a slave?" The question is, "Who do you serve?"