You Can Change #28 (Chapter 3)

"How are you going to change?" is the question this chapter asks. The answer cannot be "I'm going to start a new program of..." or "I'm really going to try harder to..." or "I have a new level of commitment to..."

These cannot be the answer because they are about what we do. Instead, we must focus on what God does as the "active ingredient" of change in our lives. In the last section, we saw that we are changed through the loving discipline of the Father. Now we see how the Son is involved: we have been united with Christ in his death and resurrection so that we are set free from sin.

Tim Chester, in You Can Change:

Jesus sets us free from the penalty of sin, i.e., death. But Jesus also sets us free from the power of sin, i.e., slavery. We're free to live for God. Telling a slave to be free is to add insult to injury. But telling a liberated slave to be free is an invitation to enjoy his new freedom and privileges. (49)

Of course, though free from sin, we are to consider ourselves slave to God. We must obey his commands. But it's a very different perspective to consider our life in Christ as an invitation to enjoy freedom, rather than another obligation. Who wouldn't want to live as a faithful Christian with eager devotion instead of dread?

How can we "abide in Christ"?

What makes the difference between this and empty religion or legalism?