1 John 3:7-10

1 John 3:7-10
Contemporary English Version (CEV) 

 Think about something you might own -- a car, for example.  Let's say you buy it, but it turns out that you park it in your neighbor's driveway and you never actually drive it, because your neighbor drives it all the time. Doesn't really feel like your car, does it?  You would have paid a high price for it, but you don't get the joy and delight from owning it because someone else is always using it.
  When Christ gave his life for us, he paid the highest possible price.  God's own Son laid down his life so that we might have life, so that we might be free.  He bought our freedom from sin and death at the cost of his own life, and now we are set free.  There are two paths before us -- we can choose freedom in Christ, or we can continue to live in the bondage of sin.  If we give control of our lives over to Christ, bowing the knee in submission to his Lordship, we acknowledge that true freedom is possible only in him.  We still wrestle with sin, but we are no longer its captive, for our ultimate freedom is determined by Christ.
  If, however, we refuse to submit to Christ and continue to live in such a way that refuses to acknowledge the presence and love and leadership of Christ, then we deny the reality of the cross in our lives through our actions.  Now that we are adopted as Christ's own through the glory of the cross, our lives should be the proof that we no longer belong to the devil but are Christ's own in love.