Give Me Liberty Or I Will Lead A Dead Life

Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Apostle Paul is saying, stand your ground in which Christ has made you free from your sins. Don't let anyone tell you that you need to do this or you need to do that to be forgiven. Asking Jesus into your life and believing from the heart that He is the Son of God that has been raised from the dead is the only way your sins are forgiven.

God has given us liberty in our life because Jesus paid it all for all that believe on Him.

Paul also says in the last part of that verse: be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. In other words do not be over shadowed by the law. What law? The ten commandments. Christ has lifted the burden, freed us from the bondage of sin.

We as Christians have not been freed to sin but, has been freed by the grace of God not to sin. We are called to a higher level to live. That level is where there is liberty in Christ. I have a liberty in Jesus Christ, and that liberty is not a rule, but a principle.

My conduct should be to please Christ not to please you, not to please any organization, but only to please Him and to love one another.

That is the liberty that we have in the Lord Jesus. Without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a Christian life it is impossible to love one another or to please our Lord.

But, a lot of Folks are still trying to save their self by good works. It's nothing we have done for salvation or the liberty we have in Jesus. Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

We must remember that we cannot take any praise or credit for our salvation. None whatsoever! It is all of God.

Then there are those that are saved but, still live under the curse of the law. The sad part about it is, it's what they have been taught. I have heard many legalist preachers or pastors preach and I just wanted to stand up and say "Give me liberty or I will lead a dead life" You remember what Patrick Henry said in his famous speech in 1775 about the liberty of our country. "I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death."

That's the way I feel about these kind of people that just can't seem to let Gods grace be enough. They want to make rules of their own, blast people instead of helping them, tear them apart instead of helping mend their lives. These kind of churches and people folks need to stay away from. Let me give you an illustration. There's a serious accident and cars are banged up and people's bodies are battered, cut, bleeding, and lying there in the street, there are two types of emergency vehicles that arrive on the scene. The first to arrive is usually the police, and their job is to develop a safety zone to control the traffic. Then they get out their pads and look at the positions of the cars. They measure the skid marks and start interviewing witnesses. Their job is to find out who violated the law. Who's to blame for this tragedy? Their chief concern is to determine what laws were violated and who is at fault for what happened. The second type of vehicle contains the paramedics. They could care less who is to blame. There are people bleeding in the street. Their job is to minister to those bleeding people, check the heart monitor, put bandages on them, look to see if there are broken bones, get them on the stretcher, and lift them into the ambulance. They're not thinking about whose fault it is. They aren't there to cast blame. They're there to help those who are hurting. Now, there are also two types of ministries. Those that take the attitude of the policeman. They come upon the tragedies, the broken lives, and they get out the code book. They're going to read you the law. "You have the right to remain silent, but anything you say may be used against you." They're on the scene in a very legal way trying to find out who's at fault, who's to blame, and to read the law.

But then there are those ministers who are more like the paramedics, and who aren't so concerned with who broke the law, but how they can heal. How can we help? How can we minister to the broken body, this broken life? How can we put things back together? How can we bring healing?

I pray the Lord would give us a graceful heart! Love in Christ Jesus, Ronnie Miller

www.themillersbiblestudy.com