TODAY’S SIGNATURE VERSE ••• For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1 ESV)
PRAISE & PRAYER PROMPT ••• Yesterday, my husband and I spent the morning at the Sheriff’s office applying for our concealed carry licenses. As we filled out the paperwork, I found one of the questions to be hilarious—“Are you a fugitive from justice?” Seriously?!? Who do they think is going to answer “Yes” to that??? Or what criminal is going to voluntarily walk into a Sheriff’s office and readily admit that information? Because—without getting into a debate on guns—criminals don’t care about going through the proper legal channels to obtain them. So, I know it’s one of those questions that is there for a reason, but it’s still a dumb question.
Yet, while we laugh at the absurdity of the question, there’s an irony there. At one point, we’ve all been a fugitive. And I’m not talking about the Harrison Ford kind.
A fugitive, by definition, is “a person who has escaped from a place or is in hiding, especially to avoid arrest or persecution.” Sometimes we’re fugitives before we accept Christ as our Savior… we know we’re sinners. Still, without an understanding of salvation by grace, we may try to avoid prosecution by hoping our good works ultimately outweigh our bad. But that’s not the way it works.
Then, there are the Christian fugitives. The ones who have accepted Christ, but still don’t have a full understanding of unmerited grace… these are the Christians who I relate to… because I’ve been there. We know Jesus died for our sins, but we’re still trying to hide our past and trying to earn what’s already been given to us. We fear that we may do something that will cause us to lose our salvation, or we want to hide from the wrath of God when we mess up.
If you are a fugitive from God, you’ve got plenty of company. In Scripture, we see example upon example of men and women who tried to hide their sins from God—Jonah being a prime example. He tried to run away from God’s instructions and ended up in the belly of a fish for three days (Jonah 1-4).
2 Corinthians 3:17 tells us, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” And Galatians 5:1 reminds us, “For freedom, Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Promise after promise in the Word tell us that freedom is available in Jesus. We don’t need to run. We don’t need to hide. Both are useless tactics when God knows and sees everything (Psalm 139:7).
And of course, there’s learning to understand grace. My favorite verses in the Bible… and the verses that inspired the name of this blog… are Ephesians 2:8-9. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
We’re invited to live lives of freedom, not lives as fugitives.
So take God at His Word. And then, accept the gift that can never be bought or earned because Jesus already paid the price and wants to give it to you.
Today, as you pray, thank Jesus for freedom. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you accept the unmerited grace that Jesus offers without hesitation or doubt, trusting that when He said, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).
SHARING ••• My Grace-Full Life is written by Denise Heidel. You are welcome to share anything I write, but please credit my writing and graphics accordingly. Visit www.MyGraceFullLife.com to read past blogs. Subscribe through my website to have My Grace-Full Life delivered to your email. You can unsubscribe at any time. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the ESV translation.
