Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
I will never forget singing a song in church about how we are free and we have no chains on us. I remember singing that over and over, and I was lifting my hands, and in the back of my mind, I just remembered going home and wrestling with addiction. I would come back the next Sunday and sing the same song. We sang a lot of songs about how we're free in Christ, and Christ has delivered us, and we're supposed to walk in this freedom.
I started asking myself some questions: Can God really set me free? Can I actually live a life of freedom? Or are these just words that I just read in the Bible?
Bought Out of Slavery
In our text today, this is what Paul says, "Christ is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom." He purchased our freedom. I want you to think about those three words.
Another version says, "In Him we have redemption." What does that word mean? Think of a slave that was bought out. A price was paid, and now the slave is free. Paul wants us to understand that before we came to Jesus, we were enslaved in sin. But now, because of Jesus Christ and the blood that was shed on the cross for us, we are free.
Seeing Myself Rightly
I kept asking myself the question, why are you not free? You're singing these songs on Sunday, on Friday, on Wednesday, but you're going back home and you're wrestling with this addiction.
Here's what made the big shift in my life, and here's how I've seen lasting change in my life. The more I make life about me, the more miserable I am.
I had to remind myself that I am not my struggles, that I am a child of God. I had to see myself rightly. That's very important. We have to see ourselves rightly. First Peter chapter 2, verse 9 says that I am God's prized possession. I'm royalty. I'm a royal priesthood. It says a holy nation, a people belonging to God. That's who I am. That's my identity.
I've also been set free, and I started to speak these Scriptures over myself. Romans chapter 8 says I'm more than a conqueror. I'm not just a conqueror. No, I am more than a conqueror.
Seeing God Rightly
I started seeing myself rightly. Then I started seeing God rightly. This is important because how you and I view God matters.
I started to understand that God rejoices in my progress, when I'm progressing as a Christian, when I'm slowly becoming more like Jesus. I said slowly for a reason, because it's slow. Sometimes I want it to be fast, but in Christianity, it takes time to grow.
Bringing Sin into the Light
I started seeing myself rightly. I started seeing God rightly. Then I started getting a plan of how I can attack these addictions and actually walk in the freedom that was purchased for me.
How do I do that? I had accountability. I invited people to speak into my life, and I would bring my sin into the light, not just to God. Yes, I would confess my sins, but I would also confess to my accountability partner, even when it didn't feel comfortable. As I started bringing my sin into the light, I started to see how God would set me free from these addictions.
Freedom Was Costly
When Paul says, "He is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins," he wants us to understand, hey, freedom is available because it was purchased.
Now, make no mistake, that freedom was costly. It was so costly that it cost God His own Son. When Jesus went to the cross and He absorbed the wrath that you and I deserved, He purchased our freedom. That was very costly.
Keep Running to Jesus
Here's the truth of the matter: freedom is very messy. When I speak to you today, I'm not someone that's living in complete freedom and I never mess up. No, no, no. I've learned to keep running to Jesus, to keep bringing my sin into the light.
Whatever chains you have on you today, my encouragement to you is this: remember who you are. Remember who God is. Remember He delights in the progress that you make.
