Freedom

I heard a great minister preach a sermon about freedom yesterday and it got me to thinking about my life. Being a biker when I think of freedom the open road is the first thing that comes to mind. I can't explain the feeling of rolling down the highway at 75 mph with the wind at your back, the sun in your face and nothing but beautiful country side surrounding you. To me that's a great day and I look forward to riding every chance I get. But that's not what this minister was talking about. He was talking about the freedom that the cross and the sacrifice that Jesus made gives us. We are set free from the bondage of sin and death because of Gods love for us.
Freedom doesn't come cheap, there's a cost for it. Jesus paid the ultimate price for our freedom, a freedom and liberty that we can have by just asking for it. What this means is that the bondage of sin in your life is your choice!!! That's right you can be set free if you ask God to set you free and change you! I can't tell you I know what it feels like to be in physical chains, but I do know what it feels like to be a slave to my own desires and sinful nature. It stinks to feel like you have no control over yourself and you continue to do the things that you wish you could stop doing. I have been dipping skoal for the last 6 years and have tried to quit numerous times. Two weeks ago I asked God to help me quit and He did. I haven't had the craving in a few days now and He has given me the strength to stay away form a really bad habit. It's the same thing with my language. I admitted to God that I had a problem with cursing and He helped me to use new words to express myself with out cursing. It wasn't easy and I have slipped up a few times, but the key is to ask forgiveness and continue to walk down the path of freedom knowing that God has set you free and you are changed for good!
Sin is a choice, period. You choose to look at pornography on the internet, you choose to drink alcohol, you choose to curse, you choose to gossip and talk bad about others, you choose to go places that you know you shouldn't, and you can choose freedom if you truly want it. If you are addicted to something in your life ask God to set you free and to take the desires away from you and He will. Freedom comes with a cost, and aren't you glad that our Savior loved us enough to pay the cost for our freedom?
Luke 4:18-19 (NLT)Jesus speaking in the temple- "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free and that the time of the Lord's favor has come"