Freedom is a theme that runs throughout the Bible like a vivid, golden thread. In Christ, we are set free, and we are called by God to live as free people—free from sin, and free from the law too. But what does that mean? This 7-day series, written by believers in Uganda, guides you in living with freedom in Christ.
Words of Hope
Day 1
Scripture: John 8:34-38
What Is Freedom?
If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (v. 36)
For 26 years I led a team to visit Luzira Prison for ministry. To enter the Condemned Section of Uganda’s only maximum security prison, we had to go through six heavily guarded gates made with strong iron bars. This is probably what most of us imagine when we think about prison: a cell with bars and guards patrolling the halls.
But there are other kinds of prisons. Many people live in spacious and comfortable homes with all the perks, but they are still in prison whether to addictions, debt, or isolation. However, others serving prison terms behind bars have found freedom in knowing Jesus Christ.
Today’s Scripture teaches us about the importance of knowing the truth that leads to freedom. Jesus asserted that “everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (v. 34). He challenges us not to delight in self-confidence or traditional ideas of being free because of the kind of family we come from, rich or poor, religious or dignified, or even whatever tribe we belong to. Rather, “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (v. 36). Either know the truth and be free or ignore the truth and be a slave to sin. Jesus came to bring this freedom (Gal. 5:1).
Are you experiencing true freedom in Christ? Seek to know the truth that true freedom is found in Christ who died for us.
As you pray, ask the Lord Jesus to teach you his truth that you may receive your freedom.
Day 2
Scripture: Hebrews 4:14-16
Guilty and Confused
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy. (v. 16 NIV)
When I accepted Christ in January 1980, I was forgiven and accepted as a child of God. After a few days, however, I continued to be bothered by feelings of guilt for my past alcoholic life and the damages it had caused. I was later taught that no matter how many times I fall short, I am still his child. Jesus has already fought and won the battle against sin. His death and resurrection paid for our past, present, and future sin. When we mess up, the grace to cover our sins is available for us. We simply need to access it through confession and repentance with confidence to receive our Savior’s great mercy.
We didn’t earn God’s favor, and we don’t need to fear reaching out to him because of something we’ve done. Jesus was “tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin,” which means he can “empathize with our weaknesses” (v. 15). That’s a comforting thought. Hebrews 4:16 tells us to “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy.”
Do you struggle to approach God when you’ve messed up? What do you need to confess to God and seek forgiveness for? If there are areas where God has forgiven you, but you still punish yourself, give them again to God and then let go. Step into that forgiveness today.
As you pray, ask Jesus to help you accept his grace and mercy.
Day 3
Scripture: Galatians 5:1-26
Freedom to Serve God
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (v. 1 NIV)
The pastoral letter to the Galatians is the charter of Christian freedom. Paul talks about the reality of our liberty in Christ, freedom from the law and the power of sin, and the freedom to serve God. He wrote this letter to a church in crisis. The early church was divided between Jewish and non-Jewish (Gentile) believers. The Jewish Christians strictly followed Jewish law. Most of the early Christian leaders were Jewish, and they forced the Gentile believers to submit to Jewish laws and traditions on top of believing in Jesus. Paul, as a missionary to the Gentiles, had to address this by calling the believers to the true gospel.
Paul sent this letter to believers living in Galatia, an ancient country and Roman province of Asia Minor in a region centered in modern Turkey. He taught the Galatian churches that salvation is by faith, not law. Our freedom means that we are free to love God and to serve him and one another without being enslaved to the ceremonial, cultural, and traditional practices that we tend to graft into our faith. Christians should carry one another’s burden, be kind to each other, and grow together in the faith.
I pray that the power of God that transformed Paul from the bondage of sin will also set us free as we read and reflect together on the freedom Christ gives us.
As you pray, ask the Lord to give you a heart to love others.
Day 4
Scripture: John 8:34-47
Enslaved by Sin
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.” (v. 34 NLT)
The word sin in Greek (hamartia) means wrongdoing, usually any act contrary to the will and law of God. Sin is personified in John 8:34 as a cruel master. Paul used the same illustration in Romans 6:15-23.
When Jesus began to speak about bondage and freedom, many of the Jews did not understand him. They thought he was talking about political freedom, including the current occupation and oppression of their people by the Romans. Some even denied the very reality of their political situation. Their claim that Abraham’s descendants had never been in bondage was certainly a false one. But Jesus challenged them with the absolute truth about our bondage to sin. Let’s not be blind to the realities of life, including our spiritual condition. The way of escape is to admit the truth of your situation, and of your sin, so you can find freedom.
How can slaves of sin be set free? Only by the Son. How does he do it? Through the power of his Word, and he himself is the logos, the Word. (John 1:1-5). The problem with the listeners in today’s reading was that they couldn’t make room for his Word in their hearts (John 8:37-47). Know the truth and the truth shall set you free (John 8:32).
As you pray, face the reality of life and seek the Word for your freedom.
Day 5
Scripture: Psalms 141:1-5
Keeping Bad Company
Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity, and let me not eat of their delicacies! (v. 4)
When I was in school, a group of older boys influenced me to leave with them during class time to go and drink alcohol. By the grace of God, I found nothing good in drinking alcohol; it tasted very bitter to me. But I continued to be friends with them. Keeping their company held me back from having the right relationship with God.
Psalm 141 is a lamentation from David to God. Verses 3-5 are prayers for personal righteousness. David prayed that God would protect him from the kind of evil that characterized his own enemy (the company of men who work iniquity). What makes temptation very powerful and dangerous is that often it seems that the way of life that ungodly people live is attractive. So David prayed about his mouth (v. 3). He also prayed about his heart and his appetites, that he would not want to join with men who are evildoers or be enticed by their delicacies (v. 4). Evil acts begin with evil desires in our hearts, and bad company can make this worse. As 1 Corinthians 15:33 says, “Bad company ruins good morals.”
The kind of friends you keep affect your relationship with God for good, or for bad. Choose your company wisely.
As you pray, ask God to keep you from spending time with bad company.
Day 6
Scriptures: Psalms 78:1-7, Mark 5:1-20
Rewrite Your Story
We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done. (Ps. 78:4)
This psalm is a citation of the sin of Israel, how it aggravated God, and how he had expressed his anger over their sin through correction. However, it also alludes to God’s great mercies over his people Israel. The psalmist remembered and recounted what God had done for Israel in spite of what they had done against him. Asaph encouraged Israel to testify, to tell the praiseworthy deeds of the mercies of God over their lives: “We will . . . tell . . . the glorious deeds of the LORD” (v. 4). Not with a purpose of continually feeling guilty, but to affirm God’s undeserved redemption.
We are not so different. Like Israel, we have all sinned, and like Israel, God has both been aggravated and corrected us too—through the Bible, and through other believers. But God’s mercy is there for us, too, through the blood of Jesus Christ.
The psalm ends with God’s choice of “David his servant . . . to shepherd Jacob his people” (vv. 70-71). God’s people have a long history of wandering, and perhaps you do too, but God’s shepherd-king Jesus has come to save us from our sins. Let’s set our hope in him and remember all he’s done for us (Ps. 78:7).
As you pray, ask God to give you courage and boldness to keep speaking of his greatness and mercy towards you, so that in your freedom others will be freed too.
Day 7
Scripture: 1 John 4:7-21
Free to Love
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (v. 12 NIV)
Let’s start by stating these truths: “God is love” (v. 16), and without God there’s no love (v. 19). There is no shame nor is there fear in love (v. 18).
Right from the beginning, the story of creation is one of love (Gen. 1-2). Then the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus display God’s perfect personification of love, and as a result, God calls us to live out this love. Putting this display and result together “is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 John 3:16). But the apostle John recognized that God is invisible, and no human being “has ever seen God” (4:12). Yet here and there in the Bible’s story, God appeared or manifested himself, yet a clearer revelation was coming.
How then was God made visible? “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” because “the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world” (4:2, 14). But there’s more: “If we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us” (v. 12). That’s how people are able to see God. We can only do this if our lives abide in Christ, for as God abides in us, his love is perfected in us.
As you pray, ask God to make you a channel of his love and blessing to others as you abide in Him.