[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Fa-rebel-set-free":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Fa-rebel-set-free-surround":67},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":14,"columnName":50,"date":51,"description":20,"extension":52,"image":53,"meta":54,"minRead":55,"navigation":56,"path":57,"postType":58,"publication":59,"publicationUrl":53,"seo":60,"stem":61,"topics":62,"__hash__":66},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Fa-rebel-set-free.md","A Rebel Set Free",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9,10,11,12,13],"Isaiah","Acts","Colossians","Romans","John",{"type":15,"value":16,"toc":46},"minimark",[17,21,24,27,34,37,40,43],[18,19,20],"p",{},"The other day I received a call from a distant relative, my grandmother's first cousin. Mrs. Smith and her husband wanted to give me some old photographs taken during Grandma's childhood years.",[18,22,23],{},"During my visit, the Smiths also showed me photos and records from their collection of Civil War memorabilia, which included soldiers' uniforms, guns and powder horns, swords, and even a citation personally signed by Abraham Lincoln.",[18,25,26],{},"One photograph in particular caught my eye. Preserved with remarkable clarity, it showed a distinguished-looking Confederate officer in his dress uniform. He sported a neatly-trimmed moustache and long dark hair, and he gazed at the camera with piercing eyes that looked like they had seen a lot despite the subject's relatively young age (he appeared to be in his 30s). Mrs. Smith explained that the soldier had been a prisoner of war held by Union forces at Vicksburg, Mississippi, until he was released in a prisoner exchange. Evidently he gave the photo to his captors upon his release. On the back of the picture he had written, \"For treatment worthy of an officer and a gentleman, a just appreciation of private principle and a generous estimate of the 'rebel' I am. Yours truly, Lt. Col. Ham Henderson.\"",[18,28,29,33],{},[30,31,32],"em",{},"A generous estimate of the \"rebel\" I am."," Scrawled thoughtfully with a fountain pen, those words were a noble gesture, I thought. For in the midst of a bloody and bitter war, a freed prisoner found a way to express appreciation and honor to his former captors.",[18,35,36],{},"Do you ever ponder the fact that the love of God frees us from a far worse captivity? \"Everyone who sins,\" Jesus said, \"is a slave to sin\" (John 8:34). Do we really understand this? Spiritual debts are more oppressive than financial ones. Just as financial indebtedness puts us in bondage, our sins put us in debt to the Lord. It's a bill we can't pay with money, hard work, or good deeds. \"All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away\" (Isaiah 64:6).",[18,38,39],{},"But the vocabulary of salvation reminds us what we have received by the grace of God. In Christ our sin-debt has been remitted, forgiven, paid in full. In Christ we have been rescued, redeemed, set free (Acts 2:38; Colossians 1:13, 14). Christ paid a debt he didn't owe, to free us from a debt we couldn't pay.",[18,41,42],{},"Ironically, once we're freed from sin's bondage by God's grace, we owe another kind of debt: an ongoing obligation of thankfulness, love, and grateful obedience. The Bible says, \"Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another\" (Romans 13:7, 8). We owe God our bodies, our minds, our wholehearted commitment. And because of love, we have an obligation to others—including those who do not know Christ. As the apostle Paul put it, \"I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise\" (Romans 1:14, King James Version).",[18,44,45],{},"Free and forgiven in Christ, but owing a neverending obligation of love. That's \"debt-free living\" at its best. And it's far better treatment than we deserve from God, rebels that we are.",{"title":47,"searchDepth":48,"depth":48,"links":49},"",2,[],"From the Editor's Desk","1999-08-08","md",null,{},3,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Fa-rebel-set-free","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":20},"articles\u002Fa-rebel-set-free",[63,64,65],"Biblical Theology","Discipleship","Spiritual Formation","y9gA68K6q5IBYU7IyJG05ABimWAICKhV2oVhDqeop0g",[68,73],{"title":69,"path":70,"stem":71,"description":72,"children":-1},"A Reason to Believe","\u002Farticles\u002Fa-reason-to-believe","articles\u002Fa-reason-to-believe","My friend Vinnie told me he didn’t believe in God.",{"title":74,"path":75,"stem":76,"description":77,"children":-1},"A Revival of God's Blessing","\u002Farticles\u002Fa-revival-of-god-s-blessing","articles\u002Fa-revival-of-god-s-blessing","Last August I traveled to central Kentucky to speak for \"The Great Gathering,\" the two hundredth anniversary of the Cane Ridge Revival."]