When a person connects with God and develops a love relationship with Him by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, the person experiences a new freedom in his or her life--freedom from guilt, freedom from condemnation of sin, freedom from human expectations, etc. But surprisingly, when the believer understands all that Jesus has done for him in bringing him to the new freedom, immediately he desires to be obedient to the Lord in everything. The person understands that he has the freedom to be obedient to the Lord.
As time goes on, many interpret the new freedom to do anything they want. Many move to their own agenda rather than stay connected with God’s agenda for their lives. Some call this spiritual drift. In that condition, we slowly move away from God and settle on doing our own thing. (We adopt a new definition of freedom). God never intended that to happen. The nation of Israel in the Old Testament experienced that over and over again in their “sin cycle”. Believers start confusing the issues of freedom and obedience.
True spiritual freedom is the freedom to submit to God and not be controlled by sin. True freedom allows one to be separated from sin and be obedient to God. It is a freedom that allows anyone to make whatever adjustments are needed to be obedient to God.
Our freedom in Christ is not a license to do your own thing. It is a permission to be obedient. Please be careful to understand this distinction, otherwise your self-centered idea of freedom will take control and even though you do not realize it, you are in a place of disobedience to God. Independence is celebrated yearly in America, but, we must never allow our personal freedom to be interpreted as independence from God. Quite the opposite. Our freedom should lead to dependence and obedience.
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