I AM FREE!
SCRIPTURE
1: For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles –
2: Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3: that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.
4: In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,
5: which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.
6: This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 3 (NIV)
By definition, a prisoner is “a person who is deprived of their liberty and kept under involuntary restraint, confinement, or custody. This most commonly refers to an individual serving a sentence in a penal institution or being held in custody while awaiting trial.” Though some prisoners may be legally held, they are not always justly held. Many innocent people are imprisoned within the legal system. That was not the case for sinners before they came to faith in Christ.
Before accepting Christ as Savior, every sinner was both legally and justly held as a prisoner of sin. They were guilty and bound by the power of Satan. However, because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, those who have come to Him by faith have been set free. The Apostle Paul declared himself to be a prisoner of Christ Jesus. In Paul's case, he was legally and justly held for the cause of Christ.
Praise God! Those who have accepted Christ as Savior have been delivered from the bondage of sin. In gratitude for all that Christ has done, they have willingly bound themselves to Him. He died for them, paying the ultimate price for their redemption. In return, they have pledged to live for Him. Yet each believer must honestly ask: Are they truly living for Him? Willingly? Completely? Unashamedly? Unapologetically? Have they fully surrendered themselves to Him out of love and obedience?
Christ redeemed His people from the bonds of sin and death and set them free. Yet He has entrusted them with much more. He has given them His Holy Spirit and revealed to them the mystery of His will. Once Gentiles, they have been grafted into the household of faith. This grafting makes them special because God has adopted them as His children. He chose them. Having been chosen, they are now heirs and joint heirs with Christ. They belong to Him. As His heirs, they share in all of God's promises through Christ.
In the book of Zechariah, the people of God are called “prisoners of hope” and are promised double restoration. Since Christ has come, believers today may also rightly declare themselves to be prisoners of hope. Yet their position extends beyond hope alone. They are servants of God, forever indebted to Him as the Lord and Master of their lives. From now until He calls them home, their song of praise should be:
“All to Jesus I surrender,
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.”
He is worthy of nothing less than their complete devotion.
PRAYER:
Father, thank You for setting us free from the bonds of sin and death and for adopting us into Your family. You sent Your only begotten Son to die in our place, and that is a debt we can never repay. But we can offer You our highest praise. We can tell the world who You are. We can live in obedience to You, doing Your will, Your way. We can love as You have commanded us to love. Continue to mold us into Your image so that our lives may bring glory and honor to You. In Jesus' name, amen.
REFLECTION:
“It is wonderful what miracles God works in wills that are utterly surrendered to Him.” – Hannah Whitall Smith