30 Days Of Emotional HealthSýnishorn

My credit card company wants me to believe their product will provide freedom.

Their ads show people choosing to travel and shop without the hassle of worrying about a bank balance. Breezy images capture the joy of the experience.

Of course, the ads don’t picture the bill arriving at month’s end or the weight of debt out-of-control spending brings. The “freedom” they espouse continues only as long as we can juggle minimum payments and not reach our spending limit. With the high interest rates charged, the freedom is hardly free.

John 8:36 tells us we’re truly free when—and only when—Jesus sets us free. In God’s economy, without Jesus, apart from Him, we’re spiritually penniless, buried underneath a mound of sin-debt we can never pay. We’re in spiritual bankruptcy. Because of our sins, we owe our very lives. We’re in an utterly hopeless state that would leave us completely separated from God’s love for eternity.

Except for Jesus.

He offers us a much better deal than a piece of plastic to stick in our wallets and pull out when needed. Instead, He pays our sin-debt.

Completely.

He accomplished the work on the Cross. There, He died to defeat sin and death and rose again victorious! Because of that victory, He offers us true freedom that’s greater than anything we can imagine.

To receive it, we need only to accept Him as our Lord and Savior. When we do, we can live in Love’s Freedom, no longer bound by sin or enslaved to past, recurring mistakes. Jesus makes us new on the inside.

Instead of an overdue notice, He gives us grace and love we can’t imagine. If He’s paid your spiritual debt, thank Him today! If not, accept His great love for you. When you do, you’ll find true freedom that will last forever.

~Dawn Tolbert

Writer, Bible study leader