When I was a kid, I remember often thinking, I can’t wait till I’m an adult and can do what I want. Wasn't that a thought you sometimes had as you were looking forward to getting older and growing up?Welcome to adulthood. You learned the brutal reality that you still don't get to do everything you want. You are mature enough now to know that if you just fleshed out and did everything you felt like, your life would quickly become a disaster! There seems to be an endless list of things people are addicted to. That's the result of a person letting their mind and flesh do what they want. God never intended for people do to just anything! And for those who would wonder, Why did God create this evil around us? The answer is, He didn't. Satan did. He took what was good and perverted its use, then tempted mankind with it to create the many evils in this world. And it's for that reason that the Christian life has to be a life of appreciated restraint. Appreciated restraint? What's that? It is a revelation from God that helps us understand that restraint is a blessing that strengthens our life, not a fun-stealer that takes away from a blessed life or makes our life dull! That is what the devil would like you to think!
Christians are one because of their revelation of who Jesus Christ is and because they have personally received Him as their Lord and Savior. At that point, the value and truth of restraint slowly becomes revealed to us through God's word! We see it in 1 Corinthians. 6:19-20 (NLT) “…Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”
When we can't seem to break free from participating in wrong behaviors that we desire to rid our life of, we are in slavery. Slavery is bondage and the devil tries to enslave you in bondage to things. But the good news is, though Satan has enslaved you, Jesus has made you free! 1 Corinthians 7:22 (NLT) says, “And remember, if you were a slave (to sin) when the Lord called you, the Lord has now set you free from the awful power of sin. And if you were free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ.”
As a Christian, it's critical to understand that you are free from Satan's grip and power. You've now become “a slave of Christ.” That is an incredible truth because it represents freedom! As we learn God’s Word, we come to understand that God is good and wants good for us. We learn of His immeasurable love for us and His desire for our lives to be filled with His blessing as He directs our path in life. God is not a depriver of life. He is the giver of life, and Jesus said, "I've come to give life and give it more abundantly." Restraint is learning what God wants us to avoid and then yielding to His Spirit because we can! Because we are free to decide to and have the Holy Spirit leading us into better choices that enrich our lives! We exchange behaviors that hurt or hinder our lives and blessings for mindsets and behaviors that lead us to greater and greater blessings! We abandon our thinking and attitude, I am an adult, and I can do whatever I want. Instead, we choose to be transformed by His Holy Spirit, learning how to live a life of appropriate behavior and selflessness—a life of loving and serving others and being the light and love of Jesus to the world around us!When you seek God's help through prayer and His Word daily, He will speak to your heart, and help you become transformed into the image of Christ. That is where the word "Christian" came from. From people who looked and acted like Jesus! The world mocks that, but your life and those your life touches are blessed by it! You are no longer in slavery to sin! You are in transformation, being taught by the Holy Spirit how to live bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV) says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law (no restraint)".
The good news is that whatever God asks you to do, He equips you to do with His grace and power. You have that power—His help within you. You are not a slave to sin. The beginning of that freedom is knowing God's truth and casting out Satan's lies that you're a slave to sin! You aren't! You've been set free and are ready to be transformed! So embrace it! It will produce a freedom within you that the world does not know or understand! You are not a slave to anything. You are empowered to live for and serve the Lord! Amen!
John 8:36 (NIV) "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."
In His love,
Pastor Tim Burt
