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"Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life" (Prov. 4:23).
This short passage tells us that we are responsible for what happens to and within our hearts,
and thus we are responsible for our faith. We are free before God, but we must act responsibly.
Perhaps the greatest text dealing with freedom from sin is John 8:32 wherein Jesus said, "and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." This freedom came when we became obedient to the faith (Acts 6:7). Especially do we find the connection between obedience and freedom in these lines from Paul's pen: "Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves [as] servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered; and being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness" (Rom. 6:16-18 ASV). The point here is that freedom leads us to duty. Take notice of the duty-call in freedom: "For ye, brethren, were called for freedom; only [use] not your freedom for an occasion to the flesh, but through love be servants one to another" (Gal. 5:13 ASV). We are obviously obliged to answer to God, but we must also answer to ourselves! Since we must be true to ourselves, we must stay saved. Here is how: we must stay in the light. Of Christians, Paul said God, "delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love" (Col. 1:13 ASV). Thus, as John said, "And this is the message which we have heard from him and announce unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:5-7 ASV). We must stay clean. Since the time of baptism, when God said your "heart {was} sprinkled from an evil conscience: and having {my} body washed with pure water" (Heb. 10:22), we must therefore "cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Cor. 7:1 ASV), and then continue to "keep {ourselves} unspotted from the world" (Jas. 1:27). We must stay within the Truth. Jesus said, "If ye abide in my word, [then] are ye truly my disciples; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31-32 ASV). After all, "truth is in Jesus" (Eph. 4:21). Let us never be guilty of receiving "the grace of God in vain" (2 Cor. 6:1). We must stay in the love of God. The Lord's brother said it very simply: "keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life" (Jude 21). Jesus Himself said, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself unto him" (John 14:21 ASV). We must stay busy. This is the thrust of Paul's words to the Roman brethren, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, [which is] your spiritual service. And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, and ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Rom. 12:1-2 ASV). We must be good stewards of what God has given us (1 Cor. 4:2; 1 Peter 4:10). We therefore must stay wise. The words "be not deceived" appear five times in the Bible, once in the Old Testament, and four times in the New. One of the New Testament occurrences deals with being deceived by others. The other three deal with self-deception. There are 15 other distinct warnings about others who will try to deceive us. Thus, we must ever be on guard. We are free — but not to serve ourselves. We are free to serve God and our brethren. Let us be sure to maintain our personal accountability before God and our own conscience. Thanks for reading. God bless you in your study of His word. |