Independence Day

            Freedom is a costly thing.

            Men and women across this entire world have bled and breathed their last for people like me to experience freedom. Children have lost their parents so other children can be taught how to ride their bike as their dad holds on tight then lets go of the handle bars for the first time.

            We live for freedom, and we die for it.

            Freedom means something more. We hope that this freedom from oppression will bring us satisfaction and rest and everything else we have hoped for.

            But how many people who have this earthly freedom actually find satisfaction and rest. How many are actually free?

            Our paychecks and lifestyles bind us. Our bills pin us down to a job. Other people tell us we have to be this or we have to be that in order to be accepted: we’re too fat or too skinny, too outspoken or too quiet. No matter what we do, it seems we can’t win; we can’t be free from this world and worry.

            Or can we?

            About two thousand years ago the fight for freedom looked like a sinless man being betrayed with a kiss from one of His best friends. Freedom’s fight was this same sinless-man standing before a screaming crowd calling for His death by the cruelest cross. People laughed at Him and even misunderstood Him; He fought for the ultimate freedom.

            The cause for freedom ripped into His flesh with jagged thorns and bits of metal on leather whips. Layer of skin, after layer of skin were shredded from his body as His lifeblood poured from His body onto a dusty street. A heavy cross was placed upon His now frail body to be carried to His death. People spit on Him, and He was the Son of God-God in human form.

            Jesus’ chest heaved as He reached up with His nail-pierced hands to push a last bit of air through His strained lungs. As people mocked Him for his freedom cry, Jesus called for forgiveness for them all.

            The Son of God had done nothing to deserve death; yet, He hung on a cross so we could be free from sin and death, and three days later, He rose from the dead and beat the grave. We can have freedom.

            2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (NIV). Freedom from sin, death, worry, restlessness, incompletion, sorrow, shame, and defeat.

Through the blood of Jesus, we have the freedom to live life to the full because no longer are we defined by our sins and shortcomings; we are defined by Christ’s righteousness.

The greatest fight for freedom was not won on a battle field between two opposing countries but on a cross.

Living Life Together,

Rebecca Thomas

Past Sins

            They haunt many of us.

            Past failures and mistakes loom over us and fog our vision. The sin we committed yesterday or ten years ago still grips the minds and hearts of many Christians today. Instead of looking forward, many of us have our heads craned backwards, scared that those sins will forever haunt us, eternally bind us.

            We misconstrue the truth of grace. We forget and really don’t fully believe that grace sets us free; so, we chain ourselves. I’ve heard people say “How could a perfect God ever love me after what I’ve done?” Our spiritual feet become crippled as we fall prey to the lie that God doesn’t want to spend time with us after we’ve sinned (even after we’ve confessed) or that God doesn’t fully forgive. The thought is that He just says that he forgives, but in reality, He keeps records of wrongs.

            These beliefs are destructive lies filled with no ounce of truth.

            1 John 1:9 states, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (NIV).  

            Isaiah 43:25 declares, “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”

            Romans 8:1 tells us that “there is no commendation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

            From these verses, we can know that God forgives us completely, forgets our sins, and purifies us. We have no need to live in our past failures; God doesn’t want us to.

            The next time you find yourself in despair from past sins, remember that when we confess our sins, God erases the sins from existence.

            We no longer have to live in shame when we are in Christ Jesus. He makes our soul white as snow while He remembers our sin no longer.

            One final thought: "For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin night be don away with that we should no longer be slaves to sin--because anyone who has died has freed from sin" (NIV, Romans 6:6-7).

           You're totally forgiven and free from sin. Live in those truths today. Let them overwhelm you. 

Living Life Together,

Rebecca Thomas

Your Sin Is My Sin

             Imagine the last time you stumped your toe, and it bled.

What did your body do? Did your brain ignore the pain being inflicted on that part of your body? Did your platelets (cells that clot the blood to help heal a wound) decide to take a break and let your blood just spill out of your body?

No, your body would never ignore the pain in your toe. Every part of you ignites into action when even the smallest part of you is harmed. I know for me, I’ll grab my toe as it throbs, telling my body that it needs help.

If our physical body reacts to every pain, why doesn’t the body of Christ?

1 Corinthians 12:1 says, “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ” (NIV). If we are the body of Christ as Christians, then we need to work together. Later in 1Corinthians 12:26, Paul writes, “If one part [of the body] suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it” (NIV). Notice this verse doesn’t just say we only rejoice with our brothers and sisters in the good times, but we also suffer with them when they suffer.

How many times have we said something along the lines of “Oh, did you hear what Jane Doe did last night? I can’t believe she committed that sin,” or “Jane Doe is struggling with this sin, let’s pray she will be redeemed from that and stop sinning”? I know I’ve at least thought it and said those words, all the while thinking in individualistic terms and never as a community of believers who are struggling with sin together.

            The other night at my community group we all confessed our sins to God by writing them on strips of paper, then crumbling those pieces of paper up and throwing them away. We didn’t put our names on the pieces of paper; we simply and honestly confessed.

            Last night, one person read to us 1 Corinthians 12:1-26 (I encourage you to read all of it), and then, opened up a piece of paper covered in OUR sins. I was amazed at how many sins we all had personally in common, but I was reminded of the struggle WE are going through and the battle that is raging around me.

            Their sin is my sin. Their triumphs are my triumphs.

            If only we as a collective body of Christ realized that more, that when you struggle, I struggle, then maybe we’d be more apt to spur one another on in love and good works. Remember, we weren't made to live in a bubble; we were made to live together-in everything. 

            Until we struggle together, we’ll never be able to have victories together.

Living Life Together,

Rebecca Thomas