Do You Want Freedom or Rules?

Let’s dive in. You just have 2 choices:

• Walk in the spirit (walk with God).
• Walk in the flesh (walk without God / on your own).

With each choice, there are consequences:

• Walk in the spirit: freedom and love through Holy Spirit.
• Walk in the flesh: rules and standards that impossible to meet.

It’s such an easy choice.

There is freedom in God. Some pastors (including one I had as a youth pastor, back in the day) preach guilt. This means they hammer in the fact that you are guilty of sinning and you need salvation. They even preach that if you don’t have every sin confessed, you’ll miss out on heaven. That’s not true at all. Salvation does not depend on what you do. No way.

Sure, guilt gets people in line, but it puts them into a guilt cycle that does not bear good fruit. It’s miserable. There’s no life. On the flip side, God’s free gift of grace requires nothing. You don’t have to live on the edge of falling into the pit of hell because in Christ, we are set free from the law (rules) and even set free from death. You can’t even see hell from where you’re standing.

Hell is eternal death. Heaven is eternal life.

Look at this:

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

Romans 8:1-2 ESV

We cannot sin once we’re saved. That’s how it looks in God’s eyes anyway, and that’s good enough for me. Let that sink in.

When God looks at us, we look like Jesus to him. We are clothed in righteousness. We’re white as snow – the good kind of snow, not the muddy or yellow snow:

I will I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Isaiah 61:10 ESV

Can we be saved and do sinful-looking acts that could possibly lead us to death? Yes. Sinful acts lead to death – not matter what, but – but what? But God! God gives us Holy Spirit to guide us. Without that help, we’d be doomed. Holy Spirit is a gentleman, and he gently nudges us back on the right path, which is full of life and love – the place we need to be. So, we need not worry about sin at all. We can relax.

Stop looking at the mirror at yourself. There, I said it. That means to stop looking at your own sin. And look who is holding up that mirror? Go ahead, take a look – he’s hiding. Yup, the Devil. He’s trying to remind you of what you’ve done, but you’ve been forgiven of that. Not only have you been forgiven of your past sins, but your future sins as well. You are truly free!

Stop believing the Devil’s lies of your past. True love, as we know from 1 Corinthians 13, keeps no track of wrongs. That’s God. God is true love. He’s not keeping track anymore. You are free!

It’s so simple.

If you do sinful acts – and, you will… we’re not perfect, that’s when grace kicks in. It’s your safety net. Without grace, yeah – you’re falling into the pit of hell. But when you accept God’s free gift of salvation, which comes without you doing anything – because there’s nothing you can do to earn salvation, you are covered… forever. The safety net gets put into place to catch you and pick you back up. Isn’t that awesome?

Salvation is simple. If you think it’s complicated, it’s because man has complicated it. That happens. It’s called religion – a set of rules. Having a relationship with God isn’t religion. It’s having the God of the universe obsessed with you, wanting to talk to you all the time. I sometimes forget what it’s like for people who don’t know God – I talk with God all the time and he talks back. He’s so helpful.

Does getting saved mean you’ll live in prosperity and everything will be perfect? Nope. No way. It’s probably going to be more the opposite – that’s what you can expect, for now at least. The Devil’s going to try to come in and discourage you because you’re now a threat. The great news is, you can defeat him easily with truth. You find that truth in the Bible, which is God’s word. Those words have power. Memorize passages that match your spirit.

Even with a bit more trouble from the Devil, being saved is so worth it. You get God. You get freedom. You get eternal life instead of death.

And guess what? As I’ve said before, you do not need to get yourself perfect before coming to God. He wants you in not matter what shape you’re in. Just go to him. Pray. Ask him in your own words to accept the free gift of salvation because of what Jesus has done for you. He overcame sin and death. He was the perfect sacrifice to get you into God’s holy family. Just accept the gift that you could not possibly earn in any way. That’s it… simple.

If you want, you can find out more about salvation on the home page.