By Todd Barrier  

Freedom. It’s what we celebrate as a nation this week. As Christians we should recognize our freedom from sin as well, what a thing to celebrate. How do we get there? How do we break those chains that hold us back? I think a great example is to look at Paul in Acts 8-9. We see a man who is an enemy of God (a sinner without repentance wreaking havoc on the church.) On his way to bring more destruction upon the church, Paul sees the light. He is face to face with Jesus and recognizes Him as Lord. As we all must do, Paul understands he has been wrong and asks Jesus what He wants him to do. He doesn’t just hear what Jesus says, like we often do, but He does it. He goes where he is supposed to go, he is found by Ananias and is baptized. He then immediately begins preaching the gospel and changing lives. The space here doesn’t allow for an in-depth study on this happening, but even in a short description we see how God changes people. We can be wrapped up in a world of sin and chained to an eternity away from God. In an instant we can recognize who Jesus is and what we have to do in our life and those chains are broken and we can live free in Jesus, just as Paul did. Now that’s something to celebrate. Are you free in Jesus?