For a brief moment before a roller-coaster tips over the summit and roars down the track, it may feel like your heart has stopped. In an effort to stem the anxiety of being elevated high above ground to be catapulted at the mercy of gravity, spinning and flipping on a narrow track, the body braces itself. This may well be the same moment when you consider, “what was I thinking!”
Initial fear and apprehension is suppressed in order to experience the exhilaration of feeling truly alive as you speed through the first turn into a spiral loop. Even though you are still being shaken and flipped, apprehension has been replaced by elation, “I am actually enjoying this!”
“I thought I died up there…” introduces many a roller-coaster-slayer tale, but is long forgotten by the time the sun sets on a day that did not just pass by without relevance.
Some of the biggest obstacles for many in making the decision towards salvation are based on the following concerns:
· What will I have to give up?
· Is my life going to be boring now without any fun?
· What about the things that I want and desire?
· Is it worth it ?
To respond that you do not have to give up anything would not be truthful and would only lead to a brief commitment based on false expectation.
The truth is that those questions do not matter when you are in the right relationship with God, because what you receive in exchange is exceedingly better than what was left behind. This is hard for many to understand, because you cannot truly experience all that God has prepared for you without making the decision. Faith is required.
Salvation is only the beginning of a path that leads to truly living through a progressive surrender to God and increasing fulfillment through His Spirit. We are not only meant to be free from the penalty of our sins but also from the influence and hold of sin on our natural lives. This is truly living.
God’s Word instructs us to how we can really live.
“Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God.” –1 Peter 2:16 (ESV)
God instructs us to live as people who are free. This freedom is not fully realized if we do not take authority over our lives. We are free when we are not driven by our fleshly desires. This way we can live life to the full, without suffering the consequences of bad choices or behaviors.
”He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” – 1 Peter 2:16 (ESV)
When we die to sin, we strip sin of its influence on our lives. The flesh fights this and tells us that we are going to lose everything that is important to us. If you are determined to move over the brink and brace yourself you will find true life in relationship with the living God. By “losing everything” we gain God and all of His excellence. We enter into His Holy presence and a higher purpose.
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of Him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” – 1 Peter 2:9-10 (ESV)
It is possible to die to sin and any bad trait. Some strongholds may take longer than others, but every shackle can be broken leading to an abundant life.
Do not believe the lie that Jesus’ death and resurrection only provides a form of life-support until we go to heaven. He paid the price for complete healing and restoration through the power of His Holy Spirit at work in our lives.
Choose today to be free.
Enjoy a blessed week.