Jesus gives us freedom through his scarfice, how do we get freedom from ourselves?

Jesus gives us freedom through his scarfice, how do we get freedom from ourselves?

Asked by Geoff

Jesus gives us freedom through his scarfice, how do we get freedom from
ourselves. Biggest blockage to growth in faith is our own selves. How can
we be free of this to grow stronger in faith and the spirit. I sick of
being held back

First of all, let me assure you that most Christians struggle with this sort of question, at least at some points in their life. The fact that you’re even asking this question suggests to me that you take sin seriously and you are on the right track.

Of course, I do not know the exact nature of your struggle. If you have a problem with some kind of addiction, for example, then you might want to consider getting a good professional counselling to help you overcome your addiction. Your local church should be able to refer you to a suitable person, if you are not sure whom to turn to. As the Bible clearly affirms, God in his sovereignty does work through various ways to fulfill his promises, even if those ways aren’t ‘supernatural’. Surely, any counselling can only help you so far, because it cannot give all the answers to deal with our sinfulness, but it can still offer valuable help.

More importantly, an essential part of growing as Christians is being part of a healthy church family. If a church has small groups that you can join, even better. Regular hearing of faithful teaching of God’s Word in fellowship with other Christians, especially if you can have a number of people who hold you accountable in your walk with God, goes a long way towards growing in maturity as Christian. It makes our life easier too, because Christianity is largely about personal relationships with God and others, and it’s never an individualistic, self-help, do-it-yourself enterprise.

Ultimately, though, the answer to how we are freed to grow as Christians is actually no different than the answer to how we are freed from sin: Jesus Christ. Collosians 2:6-7 says, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness”. He is in whom we continue to live, he is in whom we are rooted and built up, and he is in whom our trust is strengthened as we live daily under the guidance of his words. So you need to make sure that you keep working on understanding the Bible well. And all this is not something that is yet to be added to what Jesus has done. Rather, all this is part of what Jesus has done, and what he is doing in our life now, and also what he will continue to do in the future until he comes again. Our past, our present, and our future all depend on the work of Christ and his Spirit.

Freedom in Christ is a present reality, but it is not automatically manifested in the lives of believers. We are still capable of yielding ourselves to sin and of letting it reign over us (Rom. 6:12–13, 16; 8:12–13; Gal. 5:13). Freedom may also be lost or surrendered if we are not vigilant or willing to defend our freedom from those who would have us become enslaved again (Gal. 2:4; 5:1–2). We must live out the life of righteousness and the freedom from sin that Christ has made possible. There is a biblical tension between the affirmation of what Christ has accomplished for his people and the command to realize our potential in the fallen world.

Although freedom is already present in this age we await that complete freedom from the power and presence of sin which we will only experience at the time of the resurrection of believers (Rom. 6:5; 8:11, 18–23). At that time the rest of creation will also be ‘set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God’ (8:21).

 

 

Answers are kindly provided by our friends at Christianity.net.au

Read more about