Very Few Obligations

 The Good News of Jesus sets my imagination to running sometimes; and, I need it to do this because, like too many people, I can tend to take things for granted and forget that I have very few obligations to which I must unequivocally yield loyalty.

For instance, did you know that not one of us is obligated to take with us the situation into which we were born?  We may have been born in the pits, but we do not have to take the pits with us into our tomorrows.  There may be things we can't change but we are under no obligation to let the past dictate our future.  We can if we want to, but we are under no obligation to do so.

We are under no obligation to live in the muck and mire of life, either.  We can if we want to, but we are under no obligation to do so.  Also, we don't have to let sin reign in us or continue to make poor decisions or build personal relationships with people who tear us down.  We can if we want to, but we don't have to.

Maybe the most setting-free verse in the entire Bible is the one where the apostle Paul said, "We have obligation -- but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it" (Rom. 8:12, NIV).   As believers in Jesus we can choose differently.  We can give ourselves to a different values system, say no to the things that destroy the quality and meaning of life, and say YES to the setting-free and life altering amazing grace of God.

The future can be different than the past because the past and the future have been invaded by the God of all grace, the God who loves us with an everlasting love.