Free to Have Fun

    I live with one of the funniest and "funnest" people I know, my wife. Her freedom in Christ has continually liberated her to live life to the fullest in every way. She loves the outdoors whether it's running, hiking or taking a whitewater rafting trip. She's our "go to" person for fun and adventure. Yet, she is also very happy to be a loyal wife and loving mom in our home. And she has fun sharing Christ with people she cares about.

   One time, when our kids were pre-teens, she took us on an adventure in Tennessee to a hidden waterfall. We were hiking with our canteens and soon had to ask for help from a lineman out in the middle of nowhere because we were lost. He directed us to the correct trail and when we got to the waterfall, wow! It was breathtaking and loads of fun as we were able to walk under it and swim in the water with the little fish biting our toes. That scene is etched in all of our memories as one of the most fun times in our family.

   Galatians 5:1 states, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free..." That includes having some fun in life. I hope we understand that grace means life doesn't always have to be so serious.

   When my boys were into paintball several years ago, I asked for a paintball gun for Christmas. After I got it, we went to a large field near our home with a bunch of their friends and split into teams. My guys were so excited that I was on the opposing team. They couldn't wait to shoot me but I also couldn't wait to shoot them. At one point, I was laying flat on the ground trying to hide behind a clump of tall grass. The paintballs from my boys were whizzing all around me and I was returning fire. They finally got me. What a blast! I will never forget how much fun we had.

   I was counseling a pastor one time that was experiencing a lot of freedom in Christ but he was still burning out. I suggested to him that part of his freedom in Christ was to have some fun. He soon took up golf and enjoys playing it at least once a week to this day. He has since thanked me for helping him appreciate this aspect of his freedom in Christ.

   Maybe you are not into the outdoors or sports but you can still enjoy your freedom in Christ by having some fun. Some of my staff told me recently that when they were growing up, their families played all kinds of card games because they really couldn't go outside a lot to play during the cold snowy winters. As they recounted this to us, a big smile came over them. It made me want to learn some of their card games which I had never heard of. Who knows, maybe we will have a staff UNO tournament (one card game I do know how to play.)

   My wife encouraged me a while back to run trails with her. I had just started jogging and had always walked or jogged on the road. I just couldn't understand what the big deal was about running trails - until I went with her a few times. Now I'm hooked. I have so much fun running trails that the road seems boring now.

   Does your freedom in Christ include having some fun? If not, I encourage you to take a risk and enjoy life a little. Search for some things that will be fun for you to do, hopefully with at least one other person. Pray about it. In fact, I'm so excited about writing this, I think I'll go run a trail!

Live Free In Christ,


Mark Maulding, President and Founder



www.GraceLifeInternational.com

All Content Copyright © 2013 Mark Maulding

Free to Give Without Obligation

   When it began to dawn in my heart that I was no longer under the law but under grace, I was a pastor. As I studied the Scriptures, I began to realize that I had been communicating a mixed message from the pulpit of some grace with a lot of law mixed in. So, one Sunday, I stood before the church and apologized for not preaching the pure grace of God. I explained that from that point forward, my sermons would be different and they were.

   One area that I began to preach differently from God's Word was about giving financially. Previously, I had laid a heavy burden on God's people about this issue. Now I wanted them to give out of grace rather than some legalistic obligation.

   I was taking a personal risk, since my salary was tied directly to the monies which came through the giving each month. The tempting thought was this: "If I teach people that God's heart is 'grace giving' rather than legalistic giving, I may not get paid. But, I knew I needed to live by faith by preaching the truth and leaving the results to God.

   2 Corinthians 9:7 reveals God's heart for our giving by saying, "Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." (NIV ) Because we have a new heart in Christ, a new identity, God knows that the deepest desire of our heart is to live generously. He doesn't want our financial giving to be based on a spiritual checklist nor does He want fear to prevent us from giving. He wants our giving to flow from our new heart in Christ.

   So back to when I pastored. I began to ask people to go pray at home and ask God how much He wanted them to give on a consistent basis, to continue reaching people with the Gospel of grace. To my surprise, the giving went up, not down! In fact, we had the most money ever given to that church in its history. And people living more cheerfully in learning to live from their new heart, their new identity of being a generous person in Christ.

   I've been amazed over and over as I've heard this at Grace Life International when people say, "I am the one being blessed by giving to this ministry which shares the Gospel of grace with so many. Thank you for letting us give." Because we are a ministry which lives by faith, these comments sometimes bring me to tears because I reply, "Wait a minute. We are the ones being blessed!" But they persist in saying what a joy it is.

   Do you know why God is so pleased when we give cheerfully? It's because we are living like our Dad who is an incredibly generous God. We are living out of our new nature which He gave us through our new birth. Don't get me wrong, we don't always feel like giving generously in our emotions but when we give by faith; whether or not it makes sense financially for us, our new nature (heart) is cheerful within us. Have you asked God how much He wants you to give and where He wants you to give it? If not, this is a new area for you to live free in Christ!

   Are you enjoying your freedom in Christ in this area or are you living from the flesh in fear and/or anger? Would you stop and ask God what He is saying to you?

Live Free In Christ, 

Mark Maulding, President and Founder 

www.GraceLifeInternational.com 

All Content Copyright © 2013 Mark Maulding

Free to Embrace Diversity

   Have you ever noticed how easy it is to profile people? Here are some examples. Do we look at a person's clothing, skin color, age, hair style, disability, church denomination, etc. and categorize them? If we're honest, many of us probably do on some level. So we end up saying to our self or others, "Those people are always like this..." Do we know what is behind this statement? Usually fear and/or anger.

   Prejudice was a HUGE issue in the early church and unfortunately it still is today. In the early church, there were Jewish people and Gentiles (Non-Jewish people of every ethnicity) who were coming together to worship our Lord Jesus Christ. Jewish people considered every Gentile a "dog". No wonder when the Gentiles were first saved under Peter's ministry beginning with a Roman soldier named Cornelius, the other apostles were stunned! See Acts 10-11.

   It was quite a scandal when God made it clear that Jews AND Gentiles would be in Christ and were going to worship, eat, and hang out together. Talk about cultures clashing! How did God make this possible? Ephesians 2:14-15 says it this way, "For Christ Himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in His own body on the cross, He broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in Himself one new people from the two groups."

   Sadly, the most segregated time every week in this country is Sunday mornings! 90% of the churches in America are segregated. Yet, in Christ, the racial divide has been destroyed through our death, burial and resurrection with Christ. Many of us just aren't living like who we are in Christ in this area of our lives.

   Think of our identity in Christ for a moment. Every person who is a believer in Christ is righteous, holy, beloved, a saint and more, regardless of ethnicity, disability or age. Galatians 3:28, exalts who each of us are in Christ by saying, "There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus." NLT

   A friend of mine shared that her son married a girl of a different ethnicity who was an authentic lover of Jesus. My friend's Christian family apparently didn't care about that as they would not have anything to do with this couple. How sad.

   Wouldn't it be great for us to trust Christ to live through us so we could embrace diversity? What would it be like if we were in a small group in a home or a Sunday school class that had yellow, red, black white, disabled, and different ages all together? I think those outside of Christ would look in amazement and say, "Wow! These followers of Christ really love each other." Jesus said, "Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples." NLT

   Are you enjoying your freedom in Christ in this area or are you living from the flesh in fear and/or anger? Would you stop and ask God what He is saying to you?

Live Free In Christ, 

Mark Maulding, President and Founder 

www.GraceLifeInternational.com 

All Content Copyright © 2013 Mark Maulding

Free to Limit Your Freedom

   As we discover our freedom from sin and the law in the Gospel of grace, it is so wonderful that some describe it as being born again, again! I remember those days when the love of God rose up within me in such an overwhelming way. It almost seemed as if I'd never known Christ before, but I knew that wasn't true. I had known Him as my Savior who forgave me and saved me from the penalty of sin. I also knew Him as my Lord, the One to whom I told that I would do anything He wanted me to do. But now I know Him as my Life, the One who lives in me to love me and to live His own life through me. The pressure was finally off of me trying so hard to live the Christian life, and on Jesus. What freedom!

   I had come out of such a legalistic mindset that this new freedom in knowing Christ as my Life was truly awesome. Now I understood what Paul meant when he wrote, "All things are lawful to me." (1 Corinthians 10:23) For example, I had made a vow to God that I would read my Bible at least 5 minutes a day many years prior. It was such a burden. When I understood that I was no longer under the law, God's nor my own self-imposed law, I let go of that vow with great freedom. My conscience which had been held captive to legalism was now being shaped by grace.

   It wasn't long before I realized that I was freer in my conscience than some of my friends. At first, I wanted to try to convince all of my friends that they were freer than they knew. I was puzzled and sometimes I felt angry that they didn't "get it". My zeal outweighed my wisdom.

   As I grew in my freedom in Christ, I began to understand that I was free to limit my freedom. This came not only from my experience but mainly from God's Word. It must be a really big deal to limit our freedom for the sake of loving another Christ follower because Romans 14 and part of 15 are dedicated to this topic as well as 1 Corinthians 8.

   Those who don't have the same understanding of their full freedom in Christ are considered the weaker Christian. Those who do understand their freedom in Christ are called the strong Christian. (As a side note, when I was a legalistic Christian, I considered myself the strong Christian when I compared myself to those who did not live as strictly as me!)

   The responsibility lies with the strong Christian to limit their freedom for the sake of love. The issue in the Corinthian church was about meat sacrificed to idols. The strong Christians would go down to the local idol temple and enjoy grilled steak. The weak Christians thought it sinful to do this. And for them it was. The Holy Spirit instructed the strong to show love by limiting their freedom around these weak Christians.

   You will have to decide before God what your "meat sacrificed to idols" is for you and some of your Christ following friends. At the end of the day, love trumps our freedom. That is why we are free to limit our freedom in Christ.

Live Free In Christ, 

Mark Maulding, President and Founder 

www.GraceLifeInternational.com 

All Content Copyright © 2013 Mark Maulding