We All Have Masters of Some Sort in our Lives. Which of Them Has Died for You?

When you hear the word freedom, what surfaces in your thoughts?

Financial freedom?

Emotional freedom?

Freedom to do what you want, when you want?

Freedom is a funny thing because oftentimes what we personally define as freedom can actually become another form of slavery.

Noah Webster’s definition of freedom is to be exempt from constraint or control of another.

A slave, on the other hand, is one who has lost the power of resistance. The New Testament, however, introduces a new term for slave that wasn’t used in the OT: bond slave.

The term is used over 120 times in the New Testament (often by Paul!) with the highest dignity describing believers who willingly live under Christ’s authority as His devoted followers.

Y’all, we have to be oh-so-careful how we try to redefine freedom, because here’s the bottom line:

We will either walk enslaved to sin or as servants to our Savior-there’s no middle ground.

We might not recognize it, but we can become a slave to passion, Netflix, status, sweets, wine & wants of all kinds!

Just because we can freely DO what we want, when we want, doesn’t always result in BEING free. The freedom to choose just might land us enslaved by something we didn’t see coming!

Paul introduces himself to the Jews in Rome by drawing attention to the fact that he’s held in chains BECAUSE of his hope in Jesus.

We all have masters of some sort in our lives, but which of them would you die for?

Which of them has died for you?

Which of them binds your flesh like chains, but leads to true freedom?

Sin & Spirit are in constant diametric opposition to each other.

Sin leads to selfish ambition, division, immorality, hostility…

Letting the Lord lead, however, produces a fruit that can’t be bought - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness & self control.

What kind of fruit does your master produce?

Jesus, those who’ve received your gift of salvation know how much we’ve been given & forgiven! We nail our passions to the cross, no longer letting our mind, will, emotions or body lead. We will not become a slave to fruitless sin, but willingly surrender as servant to our Savior Who bought our freedom with His death.

#OneYearBible

July 11th One Year Bible Readings

1 CHRONICLES 11:1-12:18

ACTS 28:1-31

PSALM 9:1-12

PROVERBS 19:1-3

Are You Guarding The King’s Gate?

Have you ever met someone & felt like you’ve known them long before that first conversation?

That was the case last night as my husband & I shared a table with another couple at a rehearsal dinner. We wondered if we’d be the only ones attending who weren’t officially family, but there we sat by our new friends learning how our lives were already connected through our sons🤗

At one point in the conversation, they asked a question & before I knew it, I ended up sharing the majority of my messy story😳 We all shed tears over the faithful pursuit of God through it all.

Even though none of us were biological family, we were intimately connected on a much higher plane, by the blood of our King Who died for us! 💞

That conversation about my return from captivity surfaced in my thoughts as I read Chronicles today.

The exiled Israelites begin THEIR long-awaited return from captivity. The Levites, among the first to arrive, start rebuilding The Temple of God It was in severe disrepair, & of the many responsibilities to fill, there’s one that caught my eye👉🏽the gatekeepers.

Some are assigned as musicians to worship before God day & night, some are to care for The Temple, while others are called to guard the gates.

Verse 20, however, tells us of a very specific one - the King’s Gate.

This gate is exclusively reserved for the king. Although they had no king upon return from captivity, the gatekeeper stood position at the closed gate, guarding the way for the next King of the Jews to come!

I can’t fathom the gratitude that filled their hearts as they served in the safety of their Rescuer God.

The history around the Temple is fascinating, but it takes a quick turn to application & accountability when we remember that our very bodies are now the temple of the Holy Spirit!

Whether you‘re far away in land of captivity or you've made your way back, I want to remind you that we DO have a reigning King who gave His life for our freedom!

Father, thank you for Your saving grace! Remind us to care for Your Temple like the Levites did, living a life of continual worship & guarding the King’s Gate allowing exclusive entrance for our Messiah Whose blood saves for eternity!

#OneYearBible

July 10th One Year Bible Readings

1 CHRONICLES 9:1-10:14

ACTS 27:21-44

PSALM 8:1-9

PROVERBS 18:23-24

Lacking Hope? Remember This: God Only “Misses the Mark” When We Set It!

My mom says that hindsight is 20/20. It’s much easier to look behind at former years & see something, that at the time was clear as mud, with great clarity.

When I recall times of deep disappointment, times when it felt like God missed the mark, I realize this one thing with stinging revelation:

The only time God “missed” the mark was when I set it!

Today I read of Paul’s journey to Rome where he’d appeal to Caesar about his innocence. The Jews accused him of many untrue things & hated him so much that they even tried to assassinate him! Acts 27 finds him on a ship in the wiles of fall weather when a wind of typhoon strength suddenly descends.

The storm ensues for days while the sailors do what they can to keep the ship in one piece. The passage for today, however, ends abruptly at verse 20, leaving us hanging with this:

“The terrible storm raged for many days, blotting out the sun & stars, until all hope was gone.”

Makes you want to jump ahead into tomorrow’s reading, right?

Or maybe, like me, something about the verse hit far deeper than a storyline?

There will be stormy seasons in life when it feels like winds of typhoon strength begin battering against your life-you lose a job, loved one, relationship, home…& suddenly you find yourself in the eye of the storm that seems to have blotted out THE SON.

All hope SEEMS lost, but it’s not & here’s why. When we set our sights on a mark God didn’t set, the FEELING of hopelessness settles quickly.

But when we fix our gaze on the Truth that we have a Living Hope Who conquered death, nothing might not change with the swirling storm AROUND us, but everything changes INSIDE because we know The One Who envelops us within His Presence, even closer than the storm!

We are never without Hope because it’s held in the personhood of Jesus, Emmanuel, God WITH us!

Oh Father, when hard things begin to blot out Hope, remind us that Hope begins & ends with Your Son. Any Hope apart from Him is a mark we set that eventually leads to hopeLESSness.

May we, like Paul, remain well content when we face persecutions & difficulties for it is in those low moments that we’re reminded to look high TO Whom (& FROM Whom) our help comes!

#OneYearBible

July 9th One Year Bible Readings

1 CHRONICLES 7:1-8:40

ACTS 27:1-20

PSALM 7:1-17

PROVERBS 18:22