{"id":876,"date":"2019-02-12T06:00:45","date_gmt":"2019-02-12T06:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/nextsteps\/?p=876"},"modified":"2019-02-11T12:30:42","modified_gmt":"2019-02-11T12:30:42","slug":"876","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/nextsteps\/2019\/02\/876.html","title":{"rendered":"This is a Sure Sign of Freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"unsplash-logoRoman
Roman Bintang<\/span><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The following is a devotion from my message series\u00a010 Steps to Freedom<\/a>. I hope these devotionals help you experience lasting freedom in Jesus!<\/em><\/p>\n

STEP TEN: day 2<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Give back\u00a0<\/strong>and help others experience the freedom you now have<\/i><\/p>\n

In Luke 17 we see a picture of what life should look like on the other side of freedom, and unfortunately what it ends up looking like for many of us: <\/span><\/p>\n

Now on his way to Jerusalem,\u00a0Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.\u00a0As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy<\/i><\/span> <\/i>met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, \u201cJesus, Master,\u00a0have pity on us!\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>When he saw them, he said,\u00a0\u201cGo, show yourselves to the priests.\u201d\u00a0And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God\u00a0in a loud voice.\u00a0He threw himself at Jesus\u2019 feet and thanked him\u2014and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked,\u00a0\u201cWere not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?\u00a0Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?\u201d\u00a0Then he said to him,\u00a0\u201cRise and go; your faith has made you well.\u201d <\/i>Luke 17:11-19<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus healed ten men of leprosy, a damaging skin disease that would have caused not only pain but social isolation. But of the ten healed men, only one came back to give thanks. All ten were healed, but nine of the men were still so consumed with themselves that they gave no thought to thanking or giving back to others. It was only one man, who was not just healed but free, who showed his freedom by coming back and giving thanks to Jesus. Addiction and bondage causes us to become extremely self-focused and self-centered as we battle with our demons. A sure sign of freedom is that we can now take the focus off of ourselves and begin to give back to others.<\/span><\/p>\n

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Have there been moments when you\u2019ve given back and helped someone, even though you\u2019re still walking on the road to freedom? How did that encourage you?<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Can you say you\u2019re at the place of freedom where you\u2019re giving back?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    You can read other devotional entries\u00a0for 10 Steps to Freedom\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The following is a devotion from my message series\u00a010 Steps to Freedom. I hope these devotionals help you experience lasting freedom in Jesus! STEP TEN: day 2\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Give back\u00a0and help others experience the freedom you now have In Luke 17 we see a picture of what life should look like on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[316],"tags":[318,382],"class_list":["post-876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-10-steps-to-freedom","tag-freedom","tag-sign"],"yoast_head":"\nThis is a Sure Sign of Freedom - Next Steps<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An encounter from Jesus' life gives us a sure sign today of whether or not we're truly walking in freedom.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This is a Sure Sign of Freedom - Next Steps\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An encounter from Jesus' life gives us a sure sign today of whether or not we're truly walking in freedom.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/nextsteps\/2019\/02\/876.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next Steps\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"facebook.com\/drjoshdaffern\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-12T06:00:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-02-11T12:30:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/nextsteps\/files\/2019\/02\/roman-bintang-739176-unsplash-200x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Josh Daffern\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@joshdaffern\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"This is a Sure Sign of Freedom - 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