Living in Freedom

Ephesians 1:7 “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.”

1 Corinthians 3:10 “According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it.”

Romans 12:3 “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.”

There are so many verses I could use to support the reasons for my gratitude to God regarding my freedom in Christ. Yes, I love that God loves me, no matter how quirky I am! But I am so much in awe just knowing that God has forgiven me: past, present and future. God knows that I’m going to make mistakes; and as a Christian, He has already forgiven me for the mistakes that I will still make in the future. This is a freedom – I do not have to worry... about anything. Although I always want to be STRIVING to be perfect, I do not have to worry about HAVING to be perfect.

With this thought, one take-away is this: I am not here to judge others. To be more Christ-like, I must be exercising grace. I must realize that other people will make mistakes too, and when they hurt me, I need to forgive - just as I would hope they would forgive me when I mess up or hurt them.

Another take-away, especially as a mother whose children have become adults - I need to let go. Of course I don’t want to see them hurting or making crazy decisions, but it is their lives. I have done what I could while they were growing up. And even though I want to protect them, it would be wrong of me to try to control what they do. As God gives me freedom, I need to give that same freedom to others. I can only control my actions – and besides, I have enough difficulty with THAT. So daily, I must lean on God’s grace to build on that – in my own life. Through this, hopefully I can be a living example of what God’s grace can accomplish, and just how liberating that can be.