Freedom From the Curse of Sin

When I was a young, like other kids I always dreaded having to go back to school. Being locked up for seven hours a day, chained to a desk, assignment after assignment, and let’s not forget about homework, UGH! Again, like most kids I had classes that I despised. Math, science, physical education, and some of the history classes seemed like torture. There were however classes that I genuinely enjoyed. Music and band were classes I looked forward to as I had a passion for

music. English, vocabulary, grammar, literature, and speech and debate I loved as I had a passion for words. Just because I had classes I enjoyed and didn’t mind the homework for them did not mean that I wasn’t counting down the days to the freedom of summer. We all looked forward to the final bell at the end of the school year.

I can already tell that there is someone reading this thinking, “what on earth does this have to do with the title of this post?” I am so happy you asked. As kids, school was a curse we were forced to live under and while we may have hated some aspects of it and enjoyed others, it was a curse, nonetheless. The curse of sin can be looked at in a similar view, it is a curse we are all forced to live under due to the fall in the Garden of Eden, and like school, there are sins that we despise. Murder, rape, and theft just to name a few. There are other sins however that we cozy up to and enjoy, even if we don’t want to admit it. Gossip, backbiting, pride, lust. These types of sins we become friendly with are more dangerous to us that what look at as the “big sins”.

Just like with school, there was a final bell so to speak that freed us, but not just for a summer. That bell freed us forever. When Yeshua, Jesus, lifted His voice and said, “It is finished!” He meant it. The shofar sounded the final bell and we don’t have to go back to the school of sin once we give our lives to Him. This doesn’t mean walking away from the sin that we hung out with on the playground is easy to walk away from. It’s not. Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians “I die daily.” And in Galatians 2:20 When the Messiah was executed on the stake as a criminal, I was too; so that my proud ego no longer lives. But the Messiah lives in me, and the life I now live in my body, I live by the same trusting faithfulness that the Son of God had, who loved me and gave himself up for me.

Every day, we have to die to sin. It is a choice we all have to make. Does this mean that although we have accepted Jesus, we look upon others with condemnation for not having made the choice to follow Him? Do we stand like the Pharisees and declare, “Thank you God that I am not a sinner like that person!”? If we do, we need to take ourselves back to the foot of the cross and ask for forgiveness. We have to be so careful to not get caught up in our own self-righteousness that we forget the miry pit that Jesus pulled each of us out of. If we don’t have love for the lost and see them as He sees them, we have nothing.

I look at sharing the Good News and the call from sin like cupcakes, especially my son Tristan’s cupcakes. (Shameless plug here, Tristan is an amazing pastry chef, baker, confectioner or however you want to label him and works at Glaicer Confections creating some of the most amazing, sweet treats you can imagine.) When we share Jesus, it is like having a huge tray of (insert your favorite flavor here) cupcakes. While we could keep the tray for ourselves and not share them, it would be a huge waste. Not to mention, you would end up with a huge waist- line. I want everyone that I know to share in these cupcakes, to taste and see how good they are. It is the same with Jesus. I don’t share Jesus with you to Bible thump you, to make you feel guilty, or to force you into anything. I share Jesus with you because I have tasted and seen how good He is and I want you to experience that goodness too. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life! (Romans 6:23) The freedom from sin is so precious and wonderful. It is something that I would not trade for the world, literally. Jesus said, “Indeed, what will it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life?” (Mark 8:36)

The freedom from the curse of sin was bought with a price. The ultimate price. Jesus left His divinity, became flesh and blood, and died for each one of us to give us that freedom. It is something that we take horribly for granted. How many of us actually take up our cross and follow Him? REALLY follow Him? It is easy to sit in church on Sunday and sing Amazing Grace and then go live the rest of the week hanging out on the playground with the sins we have become comfortable with. It is harder to carry that cross in the workplace, at the gym, at the coffee shop or Wal-mart. He called us out of sin, out of Egypt. He paid the price for our freedom. It is up to us individually to walk in that freedom. My mother has said numerous times, “Being a Christian is the hardest thing you’ll ever do.” It is the easiest thing to accept Jesus, it is much harder to die to this flesh and walk in the spirit. What are you willing to die to so that you can live in the fullness of the freedom He has provided? Only you can answer that question.

I am currently reading a book entitled Hearts of Fire. It is a collection of stories of women from around the world who share the Word and the love of Jesus in countries where they are tortured, imprisoned, and even killed simply for doing so. One of them was about 14 at the time of her imprisonment. Despite the horrific things they have endured, they have lived with the peace and joy of the Lord in their spirits. As I drank my coffee this morning, I could not help but think what would I have done in that situation? These are women who have literally given their all for the cause of Christ, and some of them are still on the run from the authorities in their country. They love as He loved, and they walk in the fullness of that freedom from the curse of sin. Again, what are you willing to do to so that you can have that freedom?

Galatians 5:1 What the Messiah has freed us for is freedom! Therefore, stand firm, and don’t let yourselves be tied up again to a yoke of slavery.

When talking to the Judeans, Jesus said to them, “Yes, indeed! I tell you that everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin. Now a slave does not wish to remain with a family forever, but a son does remain with it forever. So, if the Son frees you, you will really be free!” There is a beautiful moment in The Chosen when Jesus is talking with Nicodemus and is explaining to him why He had come and Nicodemus says, “So this has nothing to do with Rome, it’s about sin!” and you see the understanding of who Jesus is come into his eyes. It is the same for us. Jesus did not come to deliver us from any form of government. He did not come to deliver us from any person or organization. He came to deliver us from sin. He came so that we could have life, spiritual life and have it more abundantly. (John 10:10) And if you were the only person on this earth, He still would have come for just you so that you could have that life and be free from the curse of sin. Come, taste, and see that the Lord is good! (Psalm 38:4)