"For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh but through love serve one another" (Galatians 5:13).
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners" (Isaiah 61:1-2).
One of the basic tenents of the Christian faith is "freedom". Through Jesus' death and resurrection, He has provided a way for us who were once held captive to sin and the world's ways to be truly set free. Grace River Church is about freedom. Through Christ, we no longer are slaves to what we don't want to do and who we don't want to be. We are no longer captives to attitudes and actions that are unhealthy for us and that rob us of our God-given joy.
The law seems safer in that we know exactly what to do and how to do it. Freedom requires following the gentle urges of the Spirit of God. Freedom requires thinking and feeling and responding. When I was a kid there was not a speed limit in Montana. Each driver was given the freedom to determine what a safe speed was based on their own personal assessment of the road conditions. Your driving ability and the road conditions were the only basis that you had to determine the speed with which you would drive. Your were free to drive as fast as you liked. Of course, this freedom allowed stupidity to overule safety. A person could wreck their car or even kill themselves by not properly assessing the situation. People often abuse freedom by ignoring the Spirit's leading.
In Christ we are free from our hurts, habits, and hangups. We are free to spend our lives recovering under the Spirit's leadership. We are free to worship in a way that honors God. We are free to live with abandon while enjoying God in every moment of every day. We are free to laugh and we are free to cry. We are free to be exactly who God created us to be.
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