DON'T FORGET YOU'RE FREE   

Don't Forget You're Free

Devotional inspired by July 4^th Holiday. Content inspired by the Unashamed Book.

"Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt” (Numbers 14:3–4, NIV).

More than once the children of Israel forgot how bad life had been when they were in bondage — enslaved in Egypt — and they wanted to turn back.

The same can be true of us. We forget how hard living as a captive is, and we’re tempted to yearn for what was familiar — to go back to our old ways. So, we yield to the pressure.

We decide it’s time to open a bottle when an unforeseen disappointment shakes us, rather than call that person who’s willingly committed to helping us stay on course. We answer that call we know we shouldn’t and say yes to going out, even though the relationship was always abusive. Or, we grow tired of believing God’s Word over the lies that say, “You’re just a loser, and you’ll always be a loser.”

The reality is, no matter how bad our past, it’s always easier to default to our old behaviors than keep forging new ones. But there is no drive-through breakthrough. We all must go through the wilderness to get to freedom, to defeat the giants who fuel our shame and captivity.

Jesus died to secure our freedom — freedom from sin, freedom from death, freedom to live once again as Adam and Eve lived in the garden — unashamed, having daily fellowship with our loving Creator and each other. In heaven, we will fully enjoy that ultimate freedom. But we don’t have to wait to walk in freedom, Jesus offers us freedom from sin’s slavery now.

He offers us the freedom to walk in the fullness of every promise that He has for our lives, to be who He made us to be and to do all that He created us to do!