What is the difference between the freedom that Jesus offers and the freedom the devil offers?

Both Jesus and His enemy, Satan, claim to want to give us freedom, but one of them has to be telling us something that is not totally true.  Satan usually tells us just part of a truth and "seasons" it with a lie (making it worse than an out right lie).  So what is the difference this time?  Why is the freedom Jesus offers so much better?

First, let's think about the "freedom" Satan offers:

To illustrate, think of a VERY LARGE cage. In this cage you and I have the devil's version of "freedom".  There are no rules; we can do anything we'd like in here, but we cannot leave.  

The problems with the devil's form of freedom are:

• Everyone of us has been born inside this cage, and at one time the devil claimed all of us as his own subjects, making us his slaves.
• Even though God is love, Satan has convinced most of the people in this cage that God cannot be trusted, that He is unfair, unkind and unjust, that God put us here to torture us.
• There are a few people inside who know the truth and want everyone else to know the truth about God too, but not many believe and follow them.
• There is a door into this cage, but it will not allow anyone to leave.  (Everyone inside is trapped.)
• The whole cage full is doomed and all inside will die.  (It's about to self-destruct and burn.)
   

That's the kind of "freedom" the devil offers, total freedom, but in a cage (freedom in a TRAP).  

Now think about the kind of freedom Jesus offers.

Because our first parents had been tricked into believing that the devil's freedom was desirable they were trapped in this cage and it is in this cage that we were born.

Jesus had originally created us with true freedom, but when Adam and Eve fell into this trap Jesus chose to come as a baby into this cage too, and to show everyone who God really was.  He also came to buy our freedom back and to offer His version of freedom to any who would believe in Him.

Now there is hope.  Now there's One Way out of this cage, and that is by trusting Jesus to do what He wants to do with us.  We must believe in His way of doing things, and if we trust Him, He will reach down into the cage and set us free.  

Once outside those confining walls we are free to go anywhere we want.  The universe has no boundaries and neither will we.  We are so free that if we choose to we are even free to enter back into that trap.  This is the kind of freedom Jesus offers us.

Now, instead of thinking of a large cage, think of a large globe (the earth).  You and I have been born here, there is no way to get away from here.  Soon it will die, and we are doomed to die with it.  But Jesus has made a way of escape.  If we trust Him totally He will come to our rescue.  Soon we will be taken off of this earth and we will be set free, free from its confines and free from its doom.

Galatians 5:1 warns us not to go back into the devil's trap.  It says, "So Christ has truly set us free.  Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law."   The "law" without Jesus demands death.  But Jesus Christ can truly set us free.

It is very obvious which "freedom" is real, but you and I have a choice.  No one else can make that choice for us.
 

What's Your Choice?  God values your freedom to choose as much as He values your salvation, and so He has left this choice up to you.  You can choose to live or to die.

Choose Jesus!  Choose life and REAL Freedom!