Lisa Notes: Stay free

Test everything; hold fast what is good.
1 Thessalonians 5:21

I read this excerpt below on Wednesday in my daily devotional Holiness Day by Day by Jerry Bridges, originally published in his Transforming Grace.

I find it relevant; perhaps you will, too.

Excerpt on Controllers

by Jerry Bridges

“Controllers'” are people who aren't willing to let you live your life before God as you believe He is leading you.

They have all the issues buttoned down and have cast-iron opinions about all of them. These people only know black and white. There are no gray areas to them.

They insist you live your Christian life according to their rules and their opinions. If you insist on being free to live as God wants you to live, they will try to intimidate you and manipulate you one way or another. Their primary weapons are guilt trips, rejection, or gossip.

These people must be resisted. We must not allow them to subvert the freedom we have in Christ.

Paul treated the legalism in the Galatian church as heresy, and he called down a curse on its perpetrators. I'm not prepared to go that far with our present-day legalists/controllers, but I want to tell you their actions are no incidental matter.

Their presence in our evangelical ranks is much more than a minor irritant, like a fly buzzing around our heads. There are spiritual casualties all over our nation today because of the effects of legalistic controllers in their lives.

Controllers have been around a long time. More than three hundred years ago—in 1645—the Puritan Samuel Bolton wrote these instructive words on the issue of Christian freedom:

“Let us never surrender our judgments or our consciences to be at the disposal and opinions of others, and to be subjected to the sentences and determinations of men.

. . . It is my exhortation therefore to all Christians to maintain their Christian freedom by constant watchfulness. You must not be tempted or threatened out of it; you must not be bribed or frightened from it; you must not let either force or fraud rob you of it.”
- SAMUEL BOLTON

. . . Freedom and grace are two sides of the same coin. We cannot enjoy one without the other. If we are to truly live by grace, we must stand firm in the freedom that is ours in Christ Jesus.

JERRY BRIDGES, Transforming Grace

For freedom Christ has set us free;
stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1

* * *

What tries to steal your freedom in Christ?

How did you handle it?

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Debbie · 650 weeks ago

AMEN!!!!

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fsamons 60p · 650 weeks ago

I marvel at the people who live in that black and white world as if they know and speak for the heart of God. They love to quote the scriptures that back up their actions while ignoring the ones that prove their guilt. They miss the entire point of God... Love. With all of their learning, their flesh blinds them to the fact that they break the very commandment they claim to uphold, "Thou shalt not take the Lord thy God's name in vain."

I think legalism is the main tool for not only those I'm speaking about, but all of us to one degree or another. Legalism turns us back into slaves which Paul is explaining in Galatians.

I'm in step with you, sister.
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1 reply · active 650 weeks ago

Lisa notes 103p · 650 weeks ago

Reading your first paragraph, I see me, who I once was. I cringe. :-( It makes me wonder if 20 years from now, I'll look back and still see levels of legalism in me that I'm blind to now. Hopefully not. Because I do see now that the entire point of God is who he really is...Love.

I don't want to be turned back into a slave, but it means I have to stand firm for freedom in ways that make me uncomfortable. But I will stand. Christ is worth it all. Thanks for walking alongside, Floyd. I need the strength of others.
My recent post Stay free

christina · 650 weeks ago

Truthfully, the biggest threat to my personal freedom in Christ is my own pride and performance orientation (in the old man flesh). Rules feel secure for me. Freedom is harder, but I am learning and God is patient. Praise His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the one He loves.

I hear you, Christina. My own dependence on "works" is my greatest internal threat to freedom as well. It's well ingrained in me. But I am learning too, and yes, praise God that he is patient with us!

Having tasted grace years ago, I don't want to settle for anything inferior that the world (and I) have to offer. Jesus is always more.
My recent post Stay free

JoAnne · 650 weeks ago

I just want to say your posts are so uplifting. I never comment, but sometimes your words give me the encouragement I need for the day. May the Lord bless you.

I'm glad you commented today, JoAnne. I was a little hesitant about posting this excerpt, but I'm thankful now that I did since it encourages others like it did me. Thanking God today for how he used you to bless me. May you be blessed in return.
My recent post Stay free