Finding Freedom.

Last night I did something really difficult. I obeyed. I obeyed God in the fullness of what he says in 1 Corinthians 5, which is something I've been afraid to do until now. But God said it, so what's it going to take? I was so dreading it, but now... I've never felt more alive and filled and blessed. God will take care of it because I obeyed, just like he promises in Romans 2.

Sometimes God asks us to do really challenging things and we feel like we're being ordered around or restrained. 
After all, we're doing what we're doing because we chose it, right? 
We have the power to stop when we want, right? 
It's not so bad, right? 
We're in control, right?
It's not fair for God to take that from us, right?

False.

1 Corinthians 7 says that we were slaves to sin until Christ saved us and made us slaves to him instead. From one slavery to the next? Doesn't sound too great.. until we keep reading. Our slavery is really son-ship because we've been adopted (Romans 8:15) and we obey our Father because we love him and we choose to (1 John 5). And this is true freedom because, although the law came to condemn sin in us (Romans 8), it is ultimately for freedom that we've been set free (Galatians 5).

It's that very freedom bubbles up and makes me strong. It fills me up even as I let go of the things that used to "fill" me. I don't need them anymore.

For the longest time I knew the sin that "filled" me was a temporary fix, but I waited on consequences to "bring me around" to righteousness. "Once I hurt, I'll stop." But if you know the end result needs to be repentance and redemption, then why go through the pain of getting there? It is far better to make a tangible change now in faith that God will fill you better than sin might.

And he will.

Obedience is crazy because it's totally a choice. But it's so worth it. It takes a lot of pressure off too because it puts the follow through back on God, and he blesses it.

God becomes enough. You don't really need anyone else. Don't get me wrong, people are great. In fact, we need them to hold us accountable to the things we claim as truth - they keep us from being hypocrites. They are also necessary since we are called to love and serve one another (Galatians 5) - how can we love our neighbor if we don't have one? But our neighbor isn't what makes us whole. Our neighbor isn't our hope, our security, our joy... They're our mission that God alone prepares us for.

So now we come to it:
Who are you really serving?
Are you who you say you are?
Is God really your God?
If he is, is his word really his words?
If they are, then what the heck are you doing?

All throughout the New Testament the Bible says you're either a child of God or you're not (read it for yourself!!) - there is no in between. Who are we to hold on to our "little sins" because they make us feel good? How selfish. And untrue. They aren't genuinely fulfilling and we know it. They hurt us and keep us from helping others. It's hard to let go... but... it's really not. We need to so... why not?

If we believe it, we need to believe all of it. If we obey it, we need to obey all of it. If we love God, we need to love him with all we are, not just the pieces we're willing to give.

So how about it: are you in or out?