The wonder of this life is that we are free to choose how we are to live it. We are free to choose what paths we will take. Christ came not to enslave us but to liberate us. We choose whether we wish to live with paralyzing guilt or the promise of the gospel. We choose whether we wish to live a life of legalism or liberation. We choose.

One of the mothers in my congregation often makes the comment regarding one child or another’s aberrant behavior by commenting, "strange choice." In so doing, she is reenforcing this important gospel concept that we do indeed have the freedom and therefore the responsibility for being who we are.

This is precisely the point of the gospel...we decide. We don’t need to follow the rules in order to please God. God gives us the rules in order to please us. Living lives of chastity, kindness and mercy is not done so that God will love us. God loves us now and gives these gifts. If we choose not to open them up, not to utilize them in our lives, then we live with the consequences. In our freedom we enter the Kingdom of Heaven or languish in the bowels of hell.