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Explain, in your own words, the freedom we have as a result of Christ’s work and how that impacts your life.
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Freedom from death and sin is the result of Christ’s work on the cross. It is a freedom to have life in Christ. This impacts us as Gods work of sanctification in our life occurs. We gain an understanding that we are loved, forgiven, and set free. It creates a restored love relationship with a Heavenly Father, the gift of the Holy Spirit as guide, and a mediator who intercedes on our behalf.
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Before Christ came and set us free, we were in bondage to sin. Such bondage produced sinful desires that we fulfill by doing sinful things. Since God is holy, we were unable to please Him in such a state. After Christ set us free, we were, for the first time, free to please God. This was made possible by Christ’s death and resurrection.
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The freedom I enjoyed as a result of Christ redeeming work on the cross is the freedom to choose the right things to do and the power to do it. The freedom is also to know that I am accepted as God’s child, accepted for my limitation and sins and all. The impact is that I can choose to do right, to obey God, to know his will and to know that whatever I do, I don’t need to earn his approval because it was already given to me. I obey and serve God out of love. I have a new identity. I am fully and totally accepted by God. I don’t need people’s approval of me.
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From what I understand, it is to be free from the ways of the world, in order to be free to live according to the way of Christ. The world is either living in legalism (which robs us of the joy of life, and leads us to sure defeat and guilt), or living in licentiousness (which makes us addicted to the thrills of sin, yet never feeling joyful and free). Christ’s way is to be free to choose right and enjoy the liberty thereof. The power of the Holy Spirit makes this choice liberating instead of burdensome. That is, freedom is not legalism nor licentiousness, but it is liberty.
How it impacts my life is to continually ask for the filling of the Holy Spirit, so that I will have both the desire and the power to live right: “it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13).
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Christ’s act of love in dying on the Cross didn’t just forgive us from our sins. It has set us free from the bondage of both legalism and hedonism. As a former legalistic Christian, I’m thankful that I’m experiencing freedom from those particular chains. It still creeps up in subtle ways. As I’m writing this, I’m realizing that I see it as something to be overcome and missing the point that I’m already free from it. The same is true of sin. Sin, and the enemy’s temptations to sin, no longer have any power. They only have the power I give to them. I struggle with overeating. (That’s so much easier than saying the Biblical G word) I’m not the helpless pup cowering in the cage, even if that’s how I may feel. Jesus has opened the door. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed.