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

Free to Enjoy Intimacy with God

   Having been married now for 29 years, I am enjoying some of the best intimacy ever with my wife. In the movie, "Avatar", the people from that planet had a phrase which wonderfully describes what intimacy means. That phrase translated into English is "I see you". It means "When I look at you I see the love, the feelings, all that you are and all that you are to me by just being you. We are connected on the deepest level". For us to have an "I see you" relationship in marriage or with God, barriers must obviously come down.

   One of those barriers for me was criticism. This arose in me from my childhood interactions with my dad and my misconceptions of my Heavenly Dad. I thought God related to me in an accepting or critical way depending on my obedience to Him. Erroneously perceiving that God was critical towards me, I also treated others with criticism.

   This barrier began to crumble in me as God orchestrated circumstances allowing me to fail as a husband, a pastor and a Christ follower. He was jealous for intimacy with me but I could not experience it unless I learned to depend on His Son in me rather than myself. My inability to find intimacy my way was actually my pathway to this deeper intimacy. When I could not find it anywhere else, regardless of how hard I tried, God let me know that He unconditionally accepted me. It was God saying, "I see you". Only then did I begin to experience the kind of intimacy I had always longed for.

   In the same way, the barriers between us and our Heavenly Father had to be removed so we could enjoy Him and for Him to be able to enjoy us. A better understanding of the Gospel can show us how He did just that. This can lead to a more heartfelt intimacy with God. For example, every ounce of anger God had towards ALL our past, present and future sins were removed through the death of Christ on the cross. (1 John 2:1) He will never be angry with any of us who are in Christ. Another barrier God removed was our old nature, otherwise known as our identity in Adam. God crucified and buried that nature forever. (Romans 6:6) Then He resurrected us with Christ giving us a new nature, that is our new identity which is 100% acceptable to Him. (Romans 5:1)

   When God looks at us, He sees us as totally forgiven, 100% righteous sons and daughters whom He is completely enthralled with. He has united Himself to us offering the maximum intimacy possible. We can't get any closer to God than being united to Him. The good news of the Gospel is that our sins cannot sever this intimate union of Him in us and us in Him.

   Do you see the doorway for genuine intimacy whether between a husband and wife or between us and God? It is being united to someone who unconditionally accepts us. This is the good news of the Gospel which God wishes all Christ followers knew.

   That is why we are so passionate at Grace Life International to keep sharing the Gospel with other Christians. And I'm sure you are too! Let's all pray for God-given opportunities to share so other Christ followers can know that they are free to enjoy intimacy with God.

Live Free In Christ, 

Mark Maulding, President and Founder 

www.GraceLifeInternational.com 

All Content Copyright © 2013 Mark Maulding

Free to Be Yourself

   Our desire for acceptance is so ingrained that we will often try to become what others want us to be in our quest to define our identity. It reminds me of a scene in the movie, "The Bourne Identity". Jason Bourne, having amnesia, is desperate to discover who he really is. He ends up opening a safety deposit box in hopes that his true identity will be revealed. As he unpacks the box, he is surprised by a stack of passports. To his dismay, each one has his photo on it under a different name. He is obviously shaken and puzzled as he realizes he has been a different person in different parts of the world under a different name each time. He leaves no closer to knowing who he is than before. We often allow ourselves to take on the identity of the people we associate with. It might be one with our family, one at work, one with our friends on Facebook and another at church.

   One blessing in understanding the Gospel of grace is that we discover we have an unchanging, unshakeable identity in Christ. We are the beloved children of God. "What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it-we're called children of God!" 1 John 3:1a As God's sons and daughters, we are holy, chosen, blameless, forgiven, accepted and so much more.

   Let me put it another way, our new nature is our identity in Christ. Our new nature is the new norm for defining us. Let that sink in. It's not our past, our successes or failures, our sins, our Biblical knowledge, the opinions of others or our performance in any area of life.

   I've been teaching a more complete understanding of the Gospel for 25 years. The more I share it, the more I realize that understanding our identity in Christ frees us to be our true selves. We are each unique in our personality, spiritual gifts, God-given talents, personal passions and even body type. Ephesians 2:10 says it this way. "For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in."

   When we rest in our identity in Christ, we begin to discover and rest in our divine design. We can accept our personality type as the way God "hard-wired" us rather than wishing we were someone else. For example, if you are a high C on the DISC Profile, then God designed you to be very conscientious. Yet, many with this temperament wish they were high I's who are extroverts and tend to be the life of the party.

   It's like a lighting store our Director of Counseling, Tom Short, told us about recently. It displays every shape and color of light bulb you could ever imagine: each one showing the light within uniquely. In the same way, God designed you to be a special shape and color to express Himself through. Isn't that freeing?

   Why don't you tell your Father that you are standing firm in your identity in Christ today and that you accept yourself as the unique person God designed you to be. Christ in you is a gift to the world. Being confident in your identity in Christ will unleash the unique you to influence this world for God's glory, other's transformation and your joy.

Live Free In Christ,


Mark Maulding, President and Founder


www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2013 Mark Maulding

Free to Live a Life that Pleases God

   If you previously burned out because of religious legalism, you may think that phrases like "pleasing God" are no longer necessary. In fact, you may consider the very idea of pleasing God simply another form of legalism. I understand what you mean. I, too, was a casualty of legalism, burning out emotionally, mentally and physically. It got so bad that when I read my Bible, my stomach hurt because I was focused on all the things I wasn't doing to please God that I thought I should be doing. After I began experiencing the freedom we have in Christ, I struggled with the idea of pleasing God because of my previous motivation. My incomplete understanding of the Gospel had tricked me into trying to please God so He would accept me more.

   Paul fiercely defends our freedom in Christ in Galatians. In fact, 5:1 says, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." Our freedom from obligatory law-based obedience is clear. We must never go back there. On the other hand, we may be tempted to use our freedom for selfish motives which can actually be destructive. Galatians 5:13-14 warns against this saying, "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other."

   It is incredibly easy to confuse pleasing God with earning God's acceptance as I once did. That is why we are so passionate at Grace Life International about helping people gain a greater understanding of the Gospel. The Gospel of grace is clear that God unconditionally accepts all who are in Christ because He has made us righteous. That is settled. When the Holy Spirit turns the light on so we see we are in the room of grace, it frees us to live a life that pleases God from acceptance not for acceptance.

   Here is the New Covenant or Gospel expression regarding this. "So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it." 2 Corinthians 5:9.

   If one of my three sons said "Dad, you are a great father and I really love you", I would enjoy that. But if I later said, "Son, I want you to take out the trash" and he said, "I'm not going to do it because I know you love me", I would wonder if his declaration of love for me was genuine. When we love someone, we want to please them, especially our Heavenly Father.

   As you read this, you have some choices to make regarding living a life which pleases God. You can dismiss it as legalism. You can do it to try to get God to love and accept you more. Or being confident of God's acceptance, you can let Christ live through as you, to live a life which please God, demonstrating your love for your Abba Father.

   We are free through God's grace to live a life which pleases God. How else can we, who have a new nature from God, express the very life of Christ in us?

Live Free In Christ, 

Mark Maulding, President and Founder 

www.GraceLifeInternational.com 

All Content Copyright © 2013 Mark Maulding