In Psalm 32, the Psalmist says that “Blessed are the forgiven”.  He wrote this with his own personal experience. A Christian life is a life filled with personal experiences of God’s mercy and love. The Psalmist talks about differentiating his sinful unconfessed life with one of a confessed and forgiven life and the relief he thereby experienced.

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. 

Psalm 32:1-5

But most of the time we are unable to confess our sins. Sometime we even try and hide our inequities by playing the proverbial blame game. To hide our own mistakes we highlight someone else’s faults and in this process we sometimes do not even hesitate to blame God.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

1 John 1:8-10

We are slaves to sin yet we do not have an understanding of our own slavery. We think we are in control and that we have the freedom to fight our battles. But it is only because of God that our slavery is momentary and our freedom is permanent.

“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

John 8:32-36

We do have the basic understanding about our own inequities and transgressions but continue to be afraid of our friends and families and do not confess our sins or even desire to correct ourselves. Our fear of humans and what they think about us has become so predominant that it overpowers our love for God. Many a times, we are unable to depend on God for justice, instead we influence people to receive their favour in our lives.

The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe. Many seek the face of a ruler, but it is from the Lord that a man gets justice.

Proverbs 29:25

Dear friends, God has given us the freedom to reach Him through His Son Jesus Christ at all times. The gap between us and God has now been bridged using the blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross. He has indeed paid for our sins and rightfully bought our freedom.

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need.

Hebrews 4:16

In a real sense, freedom in Christ is slavery to God not through legal agreement but through our own choice. Most of the time people come out of this boundary on the pretext of sharing the Good News. For example, if I am not a part and parcel of their social life, how am I going to tell them about Jesus. Endeavours like this is not going to introduce Jesus to others but it may drive you away from Him. Real freedom is to depend on Jesus for everything, setting apart our worldly wisdom and depending on Jesus that He will give us perseverance and a heart to forgive others.

“Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover up for evil, but living as servants of God.”

1 Peter 2:16

But are we still using this freedom just to cover up our mistakes rather than to reach Him? Are we misusing our freedom, forgetting who gave us that freedom. Remember that our freedom is in Christ and not on the things of this world. Let us not continue to misuse our freedom and come to Him with anxious hearts to experience our Father’s love.