Old-Self

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.
Galatians 5:1

I love this verse so much. In Christ there IS freedom. There's no doubt that this is true. But when I first encountered this a few years ago, I had no clue what Paul meant when he said "a yoke of slavery". Early American abolitionists used to use this verse as a means to encourage them to not go back to an old way of living, rather push forward and live a better life! This thought gives even more life to an odd verse. However, what Paul is talking about is what happens when you come to Christ and the change you take on because of it. My friend and brother in Christ, Pony, hit on this with great veracity last night.

Romans 6 speaks of this killing of self. When we sinned: when we did drugs, lied, murdered, cheated, hated, drank heavily we were living in a sinful wasteland. But when we come to know Christ, when we breathe in and welcome the grace that He has waiting for us, when we walk in the way of His fruits and accept Christ as a full life change we kill our old self.

Lately, as my friends can attest to, I refer to stupid things I did in the past as my old, dead self. For instance, last night while I was sitting on the front porch with Christa and Pony, I could smell weed and couldn't get my concentration off of it. I kept on saying, "you don't smell that?" Maybe they could, but they were able to ignore more easily than I could. I couldn't. It made me want to run inside with a can of Febreeze trailing my steps. Why would I do that? I detested what it reminded me of. It reminded me of who I used to be. I had to remove myself from who I once was and who I am now. These two scriptures helped that. Romans 6:2 says that "we died to sin"! 6:6 speaks of crucifying our old selves with Christ. IT was a great reminder to me that even though I have stupid reminders of stupid rebellious things I have done long ago, it isn't what defines me now. I killed it long ago when I fully gave my heart to Christ.

If there are things in this world that hold you down and you can seem to get free, there is freedom in Christ Jesus. The road isn't fully easy, but the end result is much better. And if you feel like you have love in your life now, wait until God takes hold of you!

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