Freedom and Grace

I can't remember the circumstances, nor even who was present, but I remember the words that were spoken. 

"There's grace to cover that," someone said. 

Those words came back to me today as I read Romans 6. "Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase?" Paul asked. I read that and wondered why anyone would think continued sin a good idea. 

Keep sinning to get more grace? It sounds abhorrent, but it's what we do, in a way, isn't it?

When we intentionally sin, knowing we can get forgiveness, we are "continuing in sin that grace might increase". 

When, as disciples of Christ, we say things we know we shouldn't, do things we know we shouldn't, watch or read things we know we shouldn't, we aren't doing them with the expectation of eternal damnation for our sin. We do them with the expectation of grace to cover it.

The expectation of grace is sometimes treated as a "free pass", allowing us to do what we want, knowing we can ask for forgiveness later.

It was the stripes on Jesus' back, the blood He spilled, the death and resurrection of our Lord that bought the grace with which we sin so freely. 

I wonder how God views our casual treatment of His Son's sacrifice. Probably not as casually as we do.

Paul wrote that our old self was crucified with Christ, and our body of sin with it. We, who have died with Christ, are freed from sin.

We are freed from sin and it is no longer master over us. 

If we are free, then we must live free. The power of the Spirit of God in us makes freedom from sin possible. 

As the new year is still in its infancy, we can choose to make 2016 a different year. We can choose to make it a year of freedom from sin's hold on us. It sounds impossible, doesn't it? It's not. The sacrifice of Christ released us from bondage. Let's honor that sacrifice with our lives. There's a choice to be made, and it's simple. 

Don't choose sin. Choose righteousness.

Will I fail in this? Yes. 

Will you fail? Yes. 

A momentary failure, however, is not the same as defeat. The battle has already been won, so let us, this year, determine to live as victors through Christ. 

It bears repeating because we will repeat the choice over and over this year.

Don't choose sin. Choose righteousness. 

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You might also like these posts: (they'll open in a new window) The New Zealand Badge and Out with the Old. 
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photo courtesy of freeimages.com

#freedominChrist #choice #righteousness #disciple #Christian

Death is Not the End

Yesterday, on one of the most beautiful fall afternoons we've had this season, Jamie Wiley took one more breath in this world and stepped away. Her very next breath was taken in eternity. She went so quietly that Sam, sitting at her bedside, already grieving his loss, didn't realize she was gone.

In the short span of eleven days, Sam's world (and mine) spun out of control and, it seems, took on an orbit of its own. From the moment she slid to the ground because "my knees wouldn't hold me" to the moment when, instead of returning to the hospital to drive her home, I returned to help Sam decide about life-support, it's been a whirlwind of devastating surprise and tragedy. Even when we left her at Hospice House for the first time, we flirted with the idea that she might recover and come home again. Little more than twelve hours ago, we left her at Hospice House for the last time. 

This has been hard. 

It's not that we didn't know, at 85 years old, that her time was short. It's not that we feared death. We knew. We understood. What we feared was the surprise. What we feared was the living after.

Yesterday, I took Sam back to the home they've shared for decades and gathered her best clothes (her new blue jeans and favorite red gingham sleeveless shirt) to dress her one last time. As I sorted through her closet and rummaged through her drawers, Sam sat quietly on the end of the bed they'd shared, a stunned expression on his face. 

The grieving has begun, and life will never be the same again.

He knows it, and I do, too. Somehow, Sam will carry on, because that's the kind of man he is. His God has sustained him through the loss of a tiny baby daughter, through the tragic death of his brother, through struggles common to us all. Now, His God will sustain him through this greatest loss imaginable. The One who said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you" has neither left him nor forsaken him even once. 

Death seems so final.

It seems so final, and it is, in a way. Jamie will never again laugh with us or make the best biscuits in the world or bake her famous chocolate cake. Not in this world. Instead, she is in a place so rich that gold is used for gravel. The leaves on the trees have the power to heal the nations. There is no sorrow in that glorious place. No tears. No darkness. God, Himself, is all the light anyone will ever need. 

The description of heaven given in Revelation 21-22 is so beautiful, you should read it for yourself. It's a glorious place, and I am certain Jamie is there, because she turned her life over to the only Savior she ever needed, Jesus Christ, and trusted Him to do with her life as He saw fit. When he chose to take her home, she didn't argue a bit. She went. I imagine she's glad she did.

One day, maybe when we least expect it, our appointed time will come and we, too, will step into eternity. We, too, will meet the Lamb of God who has taken the sins of the world on Himself. We, too, will reach our eternal destination. 

We have a choice to make and it's the most important choice of all.

We can choose darkness or light. Forgiveness or not. Cleansing or not. Jesus or not.

The eternal destination of an "or not" decision is not one I want to consider, and you shouldn't either. Cleansing and restoration of all the sin and hurt in your life is one bent knee away. It's easier than it should be and hard only because we make it so. A loving heavenly Father longs for His children to come to Him. 

Just as Jamie chose the freedom of Christ, so, too, you can choose all He offers. Reach out to Him, admit your sin, and embrace His cleansing. It makes all the difference, in this world and in the next.

The loss Sam sustained yesterday is not the end of the journey. Today, from 1-3 pm, friends and loved ones will gather for visitation and the funeral that follows. We will celebrate the good times and laugh, then cry for our loss. We'll go home to try to live without her. In the midst of our sorrow, we'll celebrate the joy we knew and the reunion of which we are certain.

Your kindness in participating with us through this difficult time has been a surprise to me. I didn't understood it, at least not at first. What I've tried to do is what God does best, make beauty from ashes. (Isaiah 61:3) I'm taking your response as an affirmation of that effort. 

I invited you into our journey and you came. Thank you for joining us. Don't leave us now. There's more to come, and it won't all be hard. After sorrow, joy comes. I plan to share that with you, too. 
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Here at the links to the others stories in this series: The eternal destination, The Vigil, A Little Help from My Friends, Keeping My Word, Deathbed Priorities, and Deathbed Priorities, part 2.  

#thisisnottheend #eternity #griefshared #JesusChrist

Jesus sees us as we are

"And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, 'Woman, you are freed from your sickness.' And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God. But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, 'There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day." Luke 13: 10-14 NASB

Today, we are beginning a new series. Jesus was not in Jerusalem. We know that because He was in a synagogue on the Sabbath rather than in the Temple. A synagogue was a place in town where Jews met together for prayers, Scripture reading, and teaching. Every Jewish town, as well as Gentile towns with a number of Jewish residents, had a synagogue. 

On this particular Sabbath, Jesus had been invited to teach the Scripture. He wasn't just doing the reading, He was giving an exposition of the Scripture. Get this picture in your mind for a moment. Jesus, in front of the people who are gathered, is teaching. A woman who had a sickness was there. 

Neither chronic illness nor chronic hopelessness kept her from Jesus.

The word used here is astheneia. This is a medical term used by Dr. Luke to indicate a weakness, frailty, or feebleness. The addition of the word pneuma indicates that it was a disease caused by a spirit. She was doubled over and could not stand straight.

Jesus glanced around as He was teaching and noticed the woman. Instead of waiting until He completed teaching, He didn't waste a minute. He called the woman forward, because healing was on His mind from the moment He saw her. She came forward, Jesus laid hands on her, and she was immediately made well. She stood up straight and tall and praised God for it.

Because she was bent double, her head would have been facing down toward the ground. Making eye contact with Jesus would have been difficult, if not impossible. Her healing, however, was not dependent upon her turning her eyes toward Jesus. 

What mattered most was that Jesus had His eyes turned toward her.

Scripture tells us that God's eyes roam to and fro throughout the earth. He sees us. We are not adrift in this world, merely hoping God will notice us. 

We are seen. We are known. We are loved.

This woman had dealt with her issue for 18 years. The spirit had caused an infirmity that everyone could see. It had caused her to take her eyes off everything except the dirt beneath her feet, but that didn't keep her from healing, because Jesus' eyes saw everything.

He looked at her and called her to Himself.

Our Lord has seen us, too, with all the destruction and infirmity sin has caused in our lives, and He is calling us to Himself. He knows the issues we've dealt with for years. He sees our struggle and wants us to be healed. We don't have to see Him to respond. We simply have to move in the direction of His voice. He will handle the rest.

Can you hear Him calling you? 

Just as the bent woman did, if we move in the direction of our Lord, He will handle the rest. He desires freedom for us. Healing. Hope.

Help is available for the thing with which we have struggled the longest. Are you tired of keeping your eyes on the dirt beneath your feet? Jesus can help. 

Listen, then move. Healing awaits in the loving hands of our Savior.

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Our Father, Thank you for seeing us and knowing us. Help us to respond to your call and allow you to touch and heal those things with which we have struggled for years. Set us free and help us to stay free. In the name of Jesus, Amen

#disciple #healing #freedominChrist #Biblestudy

The Debt We Cannot Pay

My mama was big on predicting the weather from the "signs". She'd look at the sky and proclaim what was coming. One of her favorites was, "Red at night, sailors delight. Red in the morning, sailors take warning."

I'm not so big on predicting weather. Instead, I tend to look at the signs of the times, the culture around us, and predict which direction our world is going. We're a mess, and we're not going in a good direction.

Of course, it's easy to see what's wrong with the world outside us. Jesus calls us to turn our eyes from others to look inside our own hearts. He wants us to see what's wrong inside us.

“You hypocrites! You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time? "And why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right? For while you are going with your opponent to appear before the magistrate, on your way there make an effort to settle with him, so that he may not drag you before the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I say to you, you will not get out of there until you have paid the very last cent."”       Luke 12:56-59 NASB

We should be able to see our hearts as they are and anticipate our appearance before Almighty God. Jesus presents His discussion in the framework of a court proceeding. 

In this mini-parable, the person is taken to court by an opponent (or complainant) who has a valid complaint against him. We know it's valid because, unless the defendant settles, the opponent will drag him before the judge, who will turn him over to the officer, who will throw him in prison. He owes a debt he cannot pay.

We, too, owe a debt we cannot pay. It is a sin debt, and the payment required is so vast, we have no hope of settling our case. 

Jesus makes a few things abundantly clear, and we do well to review them, for they are the situation in which we all find ourselves.
1) A debt is owed and payment is demanded.
2) The debt is astronomical. There's no way for us to pay it.
3) There will be payment of some kind, and we will either settle with our complainant or we will be imprisoned with no chance of release.
4) The only hope is to make a settlement.

This is my condition. This is your condition.

There is a solution. The debt must be paid, but God knew it was hopeless unless He intervened. So, He did. Jesus left heaven to wrap Himself in flesh and dwell among us. 

I wouldn't have done it, but God did, because He loves us. Jesus lived with us and loved us and died for us. He took our sin, paid our debt, and conquered death and the grave. 

Jesus settled our accuser's case against us. It is finished.

If payment has been made, we have two options. We can rejoice in the magnanimous gift and accept it or refuse it. If we refuse the gift Jesus so graciously gave, we're on our own with our sin debt. Where is the sense in that decision? 

If, then, we have been set free from our debt, we should live free.

We should live as if every moment of freedom is incredibly precious and valuable. We should live as if sin, which has cost Christ so much, is abhorrent and to be avoided at all costs. 

I am reminded of a song from a few decades ago, written by Andy Williams. "Born Free" 
Here's an excerpt from the lyrics:

Live free and beauty surrounds you

The world still astounds you

Each time you look at a star

Stay free, where no walls divide you

You're free as the roaring tide

So there's no need to hide

Born free, and life is worth living

But only worth living

'cause you're born free

The only way to "live free" is to be free,  but freedom is found only in Jesus Christ, our debt-payer. We are "born free" when we are born again by the Spirit of God. We live free when we embrace His gift and follow Him.

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Our Father, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Help us to embrace Your sacrifice on the cross and turn away from our sin. Help us live free in Christ. In Jesus' name, Amen.

#JesusChrist #adebtwecannotpay

Dealing with an unclean spirit, part 7: Living free

"When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first." (Luke 11:24-26 NASB)

These words of Jesus are so profound and full of truth that we would do well to take heed, for they serve as a warning for those who would be free. When we come to Jesus, with all our sin and the influence of evil rife in our lives, and give our hearts to Him, He does exactly what 1 John 1:9 promises. He cleanses us.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9 NASB)

In this passage, Jesus speaks to the maintenance of that cleansing. When He cleanses our hearts from all unrighteousness, it is our job to maintain that cleansing. The place unrighteousness occupied in our hearts will be filled with something. When we fill our lives with the Word of God and the fruits of the Spirit of God (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control), there is less room for us to embrace the sin that would so easily entangle us. 

A common problem, however, is that we come to Christ, confess our sins, experience His cleansing, and celebrate that freedom, then go back to the same lifestyle without any changes at all. We don't participate in Bible study, we don't read Christian literature, we don't become active in serving our Lord. Instead, we go back to the same habits, watch the same movies, read the same books, view the same websites. Before we realize what is happening, we have embraced the same sin that oppressed us before Christ. When we do this, the world looks on in disbelief, wondering what benefit there is to our faith.

Jesus explained that, when we experience His cleansing, the unclean spirits influencing us leave, (lust, greed, anger, unforgiveness, bitterness, etc). If we don't replace that influence with Him, the spirits/temptations to sin will return with even more spirits/temptations to sin, and we end up worse than we started. Perhaps you've seen someone who has come to Christ, had a glorious transformation that lasted for a brief time, then ended up with more sin and destruction in their lives than they had before Christ. It is a tragedy and all too common. 

The only way to prevent this is discipleship. It is living the life of a disciple, committed to following Christ and becoming more like Him, that draws us toward righteousness and away from evil and sin. If we want to be free in Christ, we must not only choose it, but actively pursue freedom by our lifestyle choices. We cannot be a disciple of Christ and a disciple of the world. 

It was for freedom that Christ set us free. (Galatians 5:1). If we want to live in that freedom, we must choose it, every minute of every day. We cannot continue to do the things that brought us bondage. It requires that we take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 2:5). When we begin to ponder our sinful desires, we take that thought captive when we choose to change our line of thinking to one that pleases Christ, whether by offering praise to Him, prayers for strength, or quoting Scripture. 

In today's society, our focus tends to be on what "I" want, rather than what Christ wants. When I live my life to serve my wants and desires, however, I will quickly fill it with an incredible array of foolish choices that create a wasteland of my life. When I actively choose the life of a disciple, I will have less of the world (and likely less of those things the world holds dear) but I will also have more of the fruits of the Spirit, which is infinitely better.

Are we trapped again in the sin that held us before? Confession brings cleansing. Discipleship keeps us clean. Make a choice, then make the change that choice requires.

The question is simple. Do we want to be free of sin or not? If we want freedom, we must choose discipleship, for it is only by choosing to stay free that we can live free. 

Dealing with an unclean spirit, part 5: Victory in Jesus

When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are undisturbed. But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder. (Luke 11:21-22 NASB)

In these verses, Jesus gives a brief but vivid summary of the power of sin and the victory of the gospel in the lives of mankind. He portrays the devil (Satan) as a "strong man" who is fully armed to guard his territory, the lives of the unredeemed. The power of the evil one is strong and he has weapons that are effective for securing his hold on our lives. Guilt, condemnation, temptation, and lies are the weapons he uses to entice us into ongoing sin. He creates a stronghold thereby, through which he secures his position. 

Jesus, however, is stronger than the "strong man" and is fully capable of attacking and overpowering the evil one. When we allow Jesus to have His way in our lives, He "takes away", completely removes, those things by which we have been held in bondage. The condemnation, guilt, temptation, and lies of the enemy are cast out and replaced by the Spirit of God. Liberty comes with the Spirit, and it is the kind of freedom that only Christ can give.

There is a battle for our hearts and it is waged with deadly seriousness. The enemy would prove himself strong, for he is skilled in this warfare and knows how to use his weapons with precision. Having struggled with temptations of my own, I can confirm his skill, as you likely can, too.

In the midst of this battle, there is good news. The enemy of our souls has been overcome and defeated by the power of the cross. We do not have to live as those in bondage. We can be free, for Christ has broken the chains of sin and death. If we are willing to accept His gift of life and love, we can live in the freedom that He brings. 

Will a relationship with Christ remove the influence of condemnation, guilt, temptation, and lies from the enemy? Not exactly. What Christ removes is the power of the evil one. If we are willing to resist, Christ will give us the victory. Every time.

There is a strong one loose in this world, creating havoc at every opportunity. Praise God, though, there is one stronger who has overcome and set us free. If we are free, let us live as those who have been redeemed. Let us reject the lies, embrace the truth, and live in the freedom that only Christ can give.

Excitement in the Boat, part 29: The Name

And Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Legion"; for many demons had entered him. (Luke 8:30 NASB)

When the demoniac met Jesus, he fell at His feet. Jesus looked down and said, "What is your name?"  The man answered, "Legion".  Of course, that wasn't the name his parents had given him. It wasn't the name by which God called him. It was actually a word that described his demon-controlled life. He had lived that life for so many years that he had become known by it. He identified with it. It was "who he was" in a terrible, sad sense, at least in his own mind. 

One of the unfortunate things about being held captive by forces other than our Lord is that we find it so hard to break free. Our failure to break free is often interpreted as an inability to be free, and that translates (in our minds) into the idea that we cannot be free. Before we realize what is happening, we begin to identify with our bondage and think, "This is who I am."  What we so often forget is that the things we do are not necessarily the things God intended for us, nor how He sees us. It is not necessarily how He intends to leave us, either. 

On this blessed day, Jesus looked down at this man and said, in essence, "Legion? No that's not who you are. I'm going to remove that and you will be a brand new man. You are about to be the man you were born to be." And so it was. With a word, the Legion was gone, the man was freed, and he was, in a spiritual sense, reborn. He had much to learn about staying free and serving his Redeener, but he was free indeed. 

How does this translate to our lives?  Look at your own life for a moment. What is the thing to which you go back, over and over? For some, it will be bigotry, a critical spirit, gossip. For others, it will be anything from gluttony to sexual sin to fiscal irresponsibility. Just because you do not have the power to break free from that which controls you, from that which is killing you, does not mean that our God lacks power to set you free. He does not. 

Even in his demon-controlled state, this man was able to take the first vital step to freedom, and so can we. He fell at the feet of Jesus, and let Him take it from there. It was an act of absolute surrender, and it was the one thing that had been missing. Neither chains nor shackles could contain him, but one word from God could set him free, and it can do the same for you.  

Today, pray that we and our loved ones will fall at the feet of Jesus in total surrender of who we have become and allow Him to transform us into who we were created to be. 

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Link to last night's post: http://leannahollis.blogspot.com/2014/08/lessons-from-battlefield-part-5-uzziah.html

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Our terrorist/terror group of the week is the former ISIS, now the Islamic State. Their leader is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. To learn more about them and their goal of spreading radical jihad and sharia rule throughout the world, click here: http://leannahollis.blogspot.com/2014/08/radical-obedience-abu-bakr-al-baghdadi.html

Excitement in the boat, part 23: Empty Space

Jesus demanded, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, for he was filled with many demons. The demons kept begging Jesus not to send them into the bottomless pit. (Luke 8:30-31 NLT)

Legion. Any way you define that, it's a large number. The Roman military organization was built on a precise and very interesting system that is too detailed for this post. Suffice it to say that a legion, including both soldiers and the ancillary troops needed to support them, consisted of just under 6,000 men. Imagine, then, a legion of demons! 

You may be wondering how someone ends up with 6,000 demons inside, wrestling for control. Jesus' explanation for this is recorded in Matthew's gospel. 

 “When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none. Then it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and in order. Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of this evil generation.” (Matthew 12:43-45 NLT)

An evil spirit torments a person and then leaves, either because the tormented person or someone else commands it to leave. The tormented one feels great relief but does nothing to fill the void left in his heart and mind. The evil spirit, always seeking more territory, finds seven more evil spirits, invites them to join him, and returns. Finding the void left by his leaving still empty, he moves back in with all his evil companions. The next time there is a struggle to banish these spirits, eight spirits leave and return to the unfilled void with seven new companions each. Suddenly, there are not eight demons but 64. [(1+7) x 8=64] it doesn't take long to have a legion of evil spirits, does it?

There is one key factor in the leaving and returning process, and that is unfilled space. The evil spirits can return because the space they left remains empty. What then can protect the tormented one from further torment? Filling the heart-space with something more powerful is the only hope. Jesus. Only Jesus. 

When we are freed from those things that oppress us, whether it be a recurring sin or an evil spirit, the only way to stay completely free is to fill our hearts with Christ, flood our minds with the truth of Scripture, and immerse ourselves in the relationship only God can provide. 

Have you struggled with something over and over again? Perhaps the problem is empty space. Maybe what is needed is a filling of that space with all that our Lord offers us. What Jesus promised was true freedom, and it is available today. Choose freedom. 

So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:36 NASB)

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Link to last night's post is here: http://leannahollis.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-stepping-stone.html

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Our terrorist/terror group of the week is the former ISIS, now the Islamic State. Their leader is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. To learn more about them and their goal of spreading radical jihad and sharia rule throughout the world, click here: http://leannahollis.blogspot.com/2014/08/radical-obedience-abu-bakr-al-baghdadi.html