Why is it that so many who turn away from Christ and the salvation He alone offers do so because they want to be free? There is no freedom outside of the life hidden in Christ. Don't we see it in the laboratory of daily activities? The one who drifts away from God is not free of anger, not free of selfishness, not free of jealousy and craven desires! He is not free of self deception and mistaken longings. The one enveloped in the love of Christ loses her bitterness and prejudice and mad strivings and wounded ego and is no longer a prisoner of any desire or shattered want. Jesus Christ and only Jesus Christ can and does take the entire person and make her free to love and free to be at peace. The turn into Christ is always a turn out of bondage toward unpretentious freedom.
Salvation through Jesus brings us eternal life but the working out of that new life is practical and daily. It is when we obey God and do what He says in those moments of clarity that more of us (body soul and spirit) becomes free of the chaos and sticky brokenness brought on by sin. A little act of disobedience, one that seems trivial, can set a chain of events within and without us that can destroy much of the progress we have made toward heavenly joy and peace. Disobedience is the great drug that intoxicates us and brings hidden destruction. We grow in grace and freedom and joy as we simply by faith do what the Lord tells us to do.
