An Epiphany

It was for freedom that Christ has set us free. Of all the wonderful things God did for us in Christ, liberty to me is one of the highest gifts that we have received. When your freedom is compromised you know it. Whether by slavery to a worldly system, or slavery to man, or bondage to sin, the loss of freedom leaves an indelible mark on the soul. Man has carried this scar since the Garden when satan was given the right to 'lord' it over the human race. From then on man has lived in a self centred rule based existence.
Do this and you will get that, goes the mantra. I should do this, I ought to do that, I must do this. When God gave the law it only compounded the problem. More rules and conditions to live by. Thousands of years of inbred data wired into our hard drives, no wonder we are so screwed up and in need of deliverance. As I re read the scriptures again this morning God met me in an incredible way. No I didn't have angels visit, no jewels or gold dust, but a resonance deep in my soul from the Holy Spirit. He put His finger, if you like, on the core issue that has been eluding me and made it come alive. Truth had come, not from the pages but from the author.
When Jesus said, 'It is finished.' I know it meant a lot of things but this thing I know. He meant slavery has finished. The slavery to the old system of living, the slavery to sin, bondage to the world, and the fear of man. As our enslaved old nature, and our corrupt way of life, was crucified with Him into His death in our baptism, it paved the way for us to be raised up in Him to newness of life in His resurrection. But here is the crucial factor for me. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. The freedom I have been granted as a free gift, is in Him. My new life now is Him, He is eternal life. That's why God's plan after regeneration is to have His Son Jesus the Christ live in and through us.
How the 'church' has missed it.