Many times in church, I've found that our life BC (before Christ) as our testimony and say we're free from that. But due to our lack of honesty and realness, we claim all freedom as "salvation" rather than admitting we got free from many things after salvation. We say "He set me free, when I met Jesus all my chains fell off." This is true theologically. When you became a Christian you died to sin and it no longer has any grip on you (Romans 6:22). Sometimes though we still deal with parts of our life we don't realize we have victory over. I struggled with masturbation off and on for 12 years of my life. It was 7 years in before anyone ever talked about it so I knew I wasn't alone. Then once people talked about it, I heard lots of bad teaching from people telling me "I would struggle with it the rest of my life" or that "it was normal for all guys to deal with it and that's just part of being a guy." Well, I would agree that most guys are hit with this same temptation of lust, porn, and masturbation, but that doesn't mean we have to put up with it or let it linger. Girls may get hit with self-image issues or eating disorders but that doesn't mean it's going to be like that forever. That's believing a lie about the freedom we have and making small the power of Christ. It's been close to two years of freedom, but I still would hear lies that it wasn't real freedom but like I had snuck out. That I wasn't set free, but I had kind of gotten my own freedom and was ready to be busted and put back in at anytime. That I would slide back in to the addiction at anytime and be neck deep again.
Sometimes we rush to make sense out of life events and create theology to support it. We say addictions are broken but be careful, your spirit is willing but your flesh is weak. According to Col 3:3, I've already died so that doesn't work anymore. We believe the lie that the power of the addiction and our hold habits are stronger than the power of the cross and what Jesus did. No doubt that beliefs are powerful and for too long we've been believing that addictions are things we need to watch our whole life rather than things we're already free of and just have to realize that. (I can go into more reasons why we deal with addictions, possible reasons for addictions, and how to get free/walk in that freedom another time, but this is the big principle we need to understand is that we are free.)
Satan is the liar. He's the one who tries to convince us that he has power over us and our addictions that he can make us stumble at any point (not true Jude 1:24) then lock us up and torture us with guilt and shame afterwards and punishment in the form of distance from God and His love (not true Rom 8:35). So this bring us to our analogy and to the truth:
Satan is the biggest inmate of Hell that tries to convince everyone he's the warden. Truth is the Warden set me free.
He didn't give me parole papers. Because parole means your punishment isn't complete- we don't fully trust you. He gave me freedom papers because my punishment has been fully paid for and I switched places with a good man outside. He doesn't say "how much freedom you have is up to you." He says, "You're free. You have all freedom." (John 8:36) But the enemy pretends you've escaped from prison. He tries to convince you that you're only out for a short time, but one little slip up and you're back in bondage again to your addiction, to your sin, to that lifestyle. But the truth is the only lock-down he has me in is lock-down of the mind, but I have the key. I realize just because he's been in the prison the longest doesn't mean he has seniority or power- it just means he's the one prison was created for and he's the one who will suffer the most.
I've got freedom papers. I've got keys to every cell. I've got visitation rights without the fear of being thrown in again. In fact, the cell doors are open- but most prisoners can't see the doorway out. It's still lock-down of the mind that inmate #0001 tries to keep them in so he's not alone with his people. He threatens me with that I'll be thrown back in a cell, that I'm just on parole and can slip up and be addicted again, locked up again at any moment.
But I have freedom papers. I have papers that say I'm bound by nothing. There's no addiction that's going to pull me back, there's no lifestyle that will pull me back, there's no nature that will pull me back. I'm free. Completely free. I can walk into the police station, walk into the prison, into brothels or gyms or buffets or look in the mirror. I am free and have complete freedom. No fear of being locked up, no fear of being chained again, no fear of proclaiming my freedom because it's not true. The only lockdown is the lockdown of the mind, and I chose to unlock it and walk in freedom because that's the power of my Jesus. It's already been taken care of and I don't have to deal with this. I have become as moral and as clean as the One they based the laws off of. I can go anywhere or do anything. I am free and only the the one who is not tries to convince me otherwise.
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