I was watching a television advertisement the other day about a weight loss program called “Free to Live.” I thought, “I don’t know of ANY diet program that I feel free to eat what I want to! So how could this one make me free to live? If anything I feel restricted!” As it turns out, by staying within certain healthy guidelines, by resisting certain snacks and foods and by making an effort to get some exercise, I can feel better, look better, and live better. So there is freedom and life in boundaries? Boy, does that sound like a contradiction!
Tell me that I CAN’T have something and that is what I want even more than before!
Once I get on a diet, it seems that I am doomed to fail. Tell me that I CAN’T have something and that is what I want even more than before! Tell me that I can’t have ice cream, and I will end up eating more of it than I usually do. I may have one hundred and one food items to choose from but the one I can’t have is the one I want! Why is that?
Adam and Eve experienced this dilemma also. The Creator made this couple perfectly (“And it was very good” He said). He had them living in the perfect environment for living freely and abundantly. They could eat of any of the trees in their garden of paradise except for one. The one thing that they were told NOT to partake of was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eating of the fruit of that tree would mean death to them, according to God. So they stayed away from that tree.
But the serpent (Satan) taunted them and tempted them toward choosing to partake of the forbidden fruit. He argued and reasoned with them until they believed that he must be right in saying that they surely would not die as God had said. In fact, they would be wiser if they ate of that prohibited tree.
So what did they do? They ate of the forbidden fruit. And did they die? No…at least, not the kind of death that they thought God was referring to. They died a spiritual death. They were separated from an intimate fellowship with God, their Maker and Provider. They became fearful of God and ashamed of their naked bodies. They could no longer live in freedom in the garden or with one another. Alas! This was not the way that God intended for them to live! But they made that choice because they thought they knew better than their Father and Creator. That is called arrogance or pride. “Pride comes before the fall” King Solomon said.
What is your forbidden fruit? What temptation in life lures you away from the blessing of life and causes you to lust after what is not yours to have? And how can you resist that temptation so that you can live as you were made to live?
“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it” I Corinthians 10:13
“Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. ” James 4:7-8.
God is faithful and will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able...
God is faithful and will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, it says. But first we must turn to Him for His help…not try to resist on our own strength or from our own understanding.
To be “free to live” means resisting the temptations and choosing the blessings. Why make these restrictive choices? In order to live…really live…life as it was meant to be.
“You shall walk in all the way which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days…” Deuteronomy 5:29
Lord, Help me to trust YOUR instructions to lead me to eternal, abundant life…for myself AND for my family’s sake!
Romans: Find Freedom
by Zondervan Corp.
God made us to run, jump, dance, and celebrate absolute freedom. Yet too often we feel bound by past failures, sin, and guilt. What will it take for the shackles to fall to the ground? Where can we find a freedom that no one can ever take away? In the book of Romans, God points you to the path of freedom. You will discover an inexhaustible, heavenly power to break the chains that bind you. You'll find forgiveness for all moral failures, a new future where all things are made right, and the joy of living in community with God's people. In Romans, you will walk the road of freedom that will set you truly free!
.jpg)
