I Am Free Because I Have Been Crucified With Christ - Sin No Longer Has Power Over Me, for Christ Lives in Me
Are you living in true freedom?
Dear brothers and sisters,
How are you?
Are you enjoying your freedom in Christ?
Today’s newsletter is all about the freedom we have as believers in Christ Jesus.
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
There is no freedom outside of a relationship with God.
I tried to find fulfillment in the world just like everyone else.
It was exhausting.
The reason it is so tiring is that we are doing everything in our own strength.
It can be confusing for believers who want to follow God, but also live and work in the world. It’s conflicting.
So how are we to marry the two?
It’s not easy. We must accept this.
It’s difficult for the children of God to live in the world because we are no longer of this world.
God redirects our lives
As most of you know by now, I was a nurse for many years, before finally having the courage to leave.
Somehow, God gave me the grace to be able to work in that profession for over twenty years. It was good training for me. I learned a lot.
However, during those years, I was also maturing in my mind, emotions, and spirit.
There was a lot of personal growth going on.
Even though I became good at my job, I never really loved it. I was able to stay in it because it was interesting enough to stimulate my mind and keep me busy which was good.
I moved around the different departments to learn more. I worked in most areas of nursing throughout my career but settled in acute medicine, cardiology, cardiothoracic, CCU, and in the latter years, oncology and palliative care.
I liked to learn new things and I was flexible which meant I could get a job easily. This was good, only I had a deeper pull on my heart - a restlessness.
I was not satisfied.
I knew the next move in nursing was management, but I didn’t want that, so I had to do something. I had to make a change.
I prayed about these things and cried out to God,
“What is it that I am seeking?”
“What can I do with the gifts that I have developed so far and is there something else that needs to be developed in me?”
I had to go through a long process of discernment.
Many people thought I should get married and that I would find what I was looking for that way. That was a consideration, but it wasn’t my top priority.
I would have married if I found someone who was compatible and wanted to follow God.
Called by God
After years of this, I started to go deeper in prayer.
People will always tell you what you should do or how wrong you are, so at some point, we have to stop listening to others and turn to the Lord in prayer.
The problem with people is that they want us to be like them. That way they can feel safe and not have to ask themselves those deeper questions.
Everyone is called, but not everyone follows.
I didn’t want to be the kind of person who had an unhappy marriage because I didn’t listen to God and do what was right for me.
It is better to be single and happy than married and miserable.
I could go into all that, but that’s for another article. Marriage is a good thing, but it is not for everyone. Many believers fear this because they don’t know anything about self-control and are also afraid of being alone.
But, when we die to Christ, the Holy Spirit helps us to live the new life. It is no longer about us trying to control our lustful desires. Instead, we learn to put off the old sin nature and put on our new nature.
In other words, we die to Self and grow spiritually in God.
Freedom in Christ is about freedom from sin and death.
This means sin no longer has control over us and we have eternal life In Him.
We grow in this freedom by realizing that our shame has gone.
The shame that came into man in the Garden of Eden.
Having our shame taken away gives us inner peace and we are free from self-consciousness. We no longer have feelings of inferiority or inadequacy.
Are you living in this freedom?
If not, why not?
The world believes they are free but they are not. They are slaves to sin and they serve the devil. They don’t get attacked by demons because they are doing what the father of lies wants them to do.
Those who follow Christ get attacked because they are not conforming to the patterns of this world. They walk a different path.
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Freedom in Christ
Let’s break this down a bit.
How is it that a believer is free?
And why do so many Christians still act like they are not free?
The short answer is that they rebel against their Master (God). They refuse to obey and cling to their old lives.
We hold on to the sins that once bound us to Satan.
So, to be free, we must put off the old self with its deceit and corruption and put on the new self with its righteousness
“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
We are all lost until God finds us, and although we do have to search for God, He is the one who chooses us. He knows you and knows your heart.
God is seeking a broken and contrite heart because it is only with a heart like that, that He can mold us and transform us into the likeness of His being.
Our deepest longings come from our spirit that hungers and thirsts for reconciliation with God.
As St Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until we find our rest in Him.”
While we turn to everything in the world to satisfy this deepest longing, we will not be satisfied until we are right with God, because God is the source of all love, truth, and peace.
Without God, none of these things exist, for God is Love, Truth, and Peace.
Free from sin and death
As the Apostle Paul said above, I died with Christ, so I no longer live. That old self is dead. Our sins are forgiven and we have eternal life in Him. The life we once had is gone forever.
If you were saved at a young age, you may not struggle as much with putting on the new self as you have been walking with God for a long time.
However, you may struggle with living in a fallen world.
If this is you, it is crucial that you spend time with the saints before you become corrupted by those who walk in darkness.
“Do not be deceived: Evil company corrupts good habits.”
New Creation – you receive a new spirit
When you are born again you become a new creation, and learn about the new life in Christ.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
The kingdom of God is within you. You no longer need to look to the world for love, validation, or approval. You already have it In Christ.
In the book of Galatians (New Testament), St. Paul teaches the church about the new life in Christ and how the sinful nature is still there, but not to give power to it. He recommends they let the Holy Spirit lead them.
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.
Put off the Old Man
The Apostle Paul was relentless in teaching the believers how to walk in the Spirit. Many of the churches fell into sin and he had to go over the basic teachings again and again. ‘If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.’ (Galatians 5:25)
Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Sins are referred to as works of the flesh (the old sin nature). They are the ungodly actions of man before regeneration but can continue in the believer’s life if they do not walk by the Spirit.
Walk in the Spirit and produce fruit in your life:
“But, the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”—Galatians. 5:22
No study of sin and ungodliness would be complete without referring to the 10 commandments and the 7 Deadly Sins. It is good to know these for self-reflection, but we no longer live by the law, but by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.
The Law of God in The Old Testament was given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai and is referred to as The 10 Commandments:
You shall have no other Gods before me
You shall make no idols
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain
Keep the sabbath day holy
Honor your father and mother
You shall not murder
You shall not commit adultery
You shall not steal
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
You shall not covet
The 7 Deadly Sins
The seven deadly sins, as identified by Pope Gregory 1 in the late sixth century, are considered categories of sin:
pride
envy
wrath
gluttony
lust
sloth
greed
Generally, the best way to understand what sin is is by reading the Bible daily until you see it repeated over and over what sin is and how God hates it. We are encouraged not to focus on sin, but rather on love, truth, and godliness. We must be vigilant in self-examination.
To the nonbeliever, this sounds like a lot of rules, but for the born-again believer who walks in the Spirit of God daily, it’s a joy, because it is the way to holiness. Sin grieves the believer greatly because the Holy Spirit lives in him.
We must learn to be like God, hate what He hates, and love what He loves.
So, let’s be clear, God wants us to grow in love and the more we pray, read the Bible, and fellowship with other godly people, the more we will want to love God, others, and ourselves.
This is what it means to be a new creation, transformed by love into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ.
The Christian life is one of death to Self—the old self is put to death and we learn to rise up and walk in the new life that has been given to us.
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Called for a purpose
Becoming a new creation is your miracle story, your story of redemption. God has won you back. You are now free!
It’s a glorious day, the day we say yes to Christ.
Dying to Self is the path we walk from the day of salvation to the day we stand face-to-face before our Creator.
You have been called for a purpose and God will reveal it to you as you walk daily in the glorious light of His Presence.
“In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.”
God has a plan for your life.
Thank you for reading!
I know this newsletter has a lot of Scripture in it, but we need to meditate on it so we get it into our Spirit. This is how we strengthen our faith.
I encourage you to take these Bible verses and read through them in your own Bible. Underline them and go back to them until they make sense to you.
I don’t know where you are on your journey, only you know that, but we all need to meditate on the Word, whether we are new believers or walking in the Lord for many years.
Practical action steps
Take some time this week to do a self-inquiry.
Find a quiet time and ask The Holy Spirit to help you to search your heart.
Try to identify areas that need more work.
Next week, I want to talk about living out our freedom in a practical way.
It’s great to finally have inner peace, joy, and freedom, but the world and the people in it are still living the old way if they have not yet received the gift of salvation.
And some believers are weak in their faith.
I will share how we can manage our mental, and emotional life so we can respond in love and not react emotionally from a place of hurt.
We can still be caught off guard when someone purposely tries to hurt us. Some people are just mean and because they have not worked on their issues, they become bitter, and bitter people can be mean and spiteful.
It is good to have techniques in your tool bag for living the Christian life.
Have a blessed week!
Love, In Christ,
Órla
This is so good!