Momentum For Monday, August 22nd 2022

“I will walk around freely because I sought out your guiding principles.” (Psalm 119:45)

One of the things I never grasped in my walk with God until later was that salvation and freedom are not the same thing. This misunderstanding brought a lot of confusion and unnecessary anger towards God. And it was also a point of guilt that plagued me for years.

I thought that when a person was saved by Jesus, then it had to impact all of that person at once. While I wouldn't equate it to some magical "bippity boppity boo" moment, but in a sense I did think that way. If you were saved and angels were throwing a party in heaven, then certainly there should be some shred of physical evidence right? I mean, I had heard of stories about radical conversions from others and even read about people like Paul in Scripture, but with me, it was like nothing. In fact, my struggles became more difficult after salvation.

Here's what I didn't consider though (or understand at my age), Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus wasn't some story about a person who knew nothing about God to being well-acquainted in some miraculous way. Paul was passionate about God, but he was far from being god-like. He was merely a religious zealot before Damascus. It's noteworthy that he is the one who most passionately talks about renewing the mind and transformation in the New Testament.

It's ok for change and freedom to come after or even gradually after being saved. In fact, it's more common. The lack of some super spiritual event occurring the day you got saved means nothing. The only reason I remember my moment of salvation was that someone looked at me in the face after praying in an altar call and said, "angels are celebrating over you." And by deductive reasoning, salvation would be the only probability they'd say that over the boisterous teen I was.

To be frank, the struggles got so intense in my twenties that I regretted my relationship with God. How could I be saved and so enslaved in my problems at the same time? I often told God to just let me be and allow me to live my life the way I wanted. I had to learn truth from Scripture despite every lie I was seemingly experiencing. It had to get rooted in me deeply and thoroughly before I started to step little by little into freedom.

Is this you? If so, don't fall for the lies of all that your feeling. Anchor yourself to the promises of God instead. Little by little, you will see the difference. Transformation and freedom will come. Don't give up.

“So if the Son frees you, you will really be free!”

(John 8:36)