Total freedom lies in God’s image
Seek The Freedom That God Offers
When God made us, He made us to be free, holy and strong. He also made us in His image to imitate His son, Jesus, by starting with the founders of faith such as Abraham.
To exist in this world means we will always come into contact with varying forces. Two such forces are that which comes from the heavenly Father and last forever, and that which comes from human desires. Human desires are planned and lack the dignity that is of God. It is spear-headed by greed and pride and very often leads to death.
Freedom in God means living in love and truth. Love is graceful and truthful and leads one to be good and do well. Truth relies on faithfulness and knowledge.
This knowledge is that of knowing who God is, who Jesus is, and how well are we prepared to share in their wisdom. To fully know God the Father, His son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, is to submit ourselves to Him, for anything else will gain us nothing and we lose our freedom.
Our Freedom in God starts with our baptism, our cleansing of the old life and being reborn in god. Once we are born anew in Christ we should no longer commit sinful acts. If we do, we are choosing to refuse to love and to forgive, both of which we will not be allowed entry onto God’s Paradise. When we do not live up to our baptismal promises we are choosing to be devious and participate in the destruction of society and the attack on God’s kingdom and people.
To be free in God means to have the gift of discernment to know right from wrong, to analyse opinions and to know truth from falsehood. This means we become responsible in our thoughts, words and deeds. We begin to think critically and evaluate according to the criteria laid out in the Gospels. We begin to realize that God is indeed love and that love is the overall theme of the Gospels, the theme we must live our lives by.
God is always among us. He never left us. Though we experience persecution daily, some of us more than others, God is with us experiencing these atrocities too, and in the end He always comes out victorious. Hence, with Him we will be made strong and experience a conversion so strong that it is felt from the inside out.
Let us therefore begin by talking with God in prayer. Talk to Him from our hearts. If needs be write it down and refer to it daily. Prayer is effective when we have an attitude of faith and love in God. We must surrender ourselves and our lives in God’s hands. We are a manifestation of Him and He will fill us with His love and grace if we let Him. A deep prayer life will allow us to be forgiving. Many of us find it hard to forgive because our prayer life is shaky. To lack forgiveness means to lack love, to be trapped, to be in slavery, to lack freedom. Forgiveness frees us. We often hear to fast and pray, which is good, yes, when it is done to glorify God. If fasting is not done in God’s honour, then it is unworthy.
Let us live a generous life. Do not fall prey to false gods like money. To worship money robs us of a happy life and we are unable to be free because we neglect things that are important to us life family. Also we submit to corruption and remain silent when we witness evil doings. Yes, money is important for daily activities. Do not let it be your be-all and end-all. Our victory lies in our inheritance as children of God and our goal is eternal life with God Himself. Believing in Christ, being anew in Christ, is the first step in living in the truth of God.
Temptation is always lurking around us. Jesus refused to give in when He was tempted and so should we. Jesus teaches us every day how we should come to the knowledge of God and he sends us out to share this knowledge. We become apostles of God’s kingdom. Jesus is the one who brings healing to us and we in turn should bring healing to others. Jesus prayed, a lot, and so should we.
Our lives come from God and through Jesus we receive the revelation of how best to live our lives. Our satisfaction comes from being in tuned with God. If we do not connect with God we will remain expelled from the paradise He created for us.