This 5-day devotional draws directly from Ed Boston's sermon “Old Union Church - July 5, 2026” so you can keep engaging with the message all week. Read, reflect, and share it with your small group or friends.
Freedom That Cost Everything
Monday — Understanding the Truth
Have you ever received a gift so significant that you couldn't quite find the words to say thank you? That's the kind of gift we're sitting with this week.
Today's Scripture "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." — John 8:36
Reflection There's a phrase worth turning over in your mind today: freedom is never free. Whether it's a nation's independence or a soul's liberation, freedom always comes at a cost to someone.
The freedom Jesus offers isn't the kind that comes with a loophole or an expiration date. It's the real thing — freedom from guilt, from shame, from the weight of everything you've carried around that you wouldn't dare say out loud. The pastor described it well: sin promises freedom but delivers slavery. It chains people in fear, addiction, bitterness, and regret. You may know exactly what that feels like.
But here's the turn: Jesus stepped into that story and paid a price he didn't owe. The innocent took the punishment meant for the guilty. That's not just a theological statement — it's personal. It means your specific guilt, your particular shame, your private regret was included in what he carried to the cross.
John 8:36 doesn't say you might be free, or you could be free under certain conditions. It says free indeed — completely, genuinely, no strings attached.
That's the foundation we're building on this week. Everything else starts here.
Today's Step Take a quiet moment and ask yourself: Is there something I'm still carrying that Jesus already paid for?
A Closing Thought The price has already been paid. All that's left is for you to receive what's been freely given.
The Chains You Didn't Choose
Tuesday — When It's Hard
Be honest for a second — does "freedom in Christ" ever feel more like a concept than a reality?
Today's Scripture "Jesus answered them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.'" — John 8:34
Reflection Sin is a strange kind of trap. It rarely feels like a trap at first. It usually feels like relief, or escape, or just the easiest path forward. But over time, what started as a choice starts to feel like a chain.
Maybe you've felt that. A habit that took hold before you realized it. A grudge that hardened into something you carry everywhere. A pattern of thinking that tells you you're too far gone, too broken, too much. These aren't just personal failures — they're exactly what Jesus was describing when he said sin makes us slaves.
And here's the hard part: knowing that Jesus offers freedom doesn't automatically make the chains fall off. Sometimes the struggle continues even after you believe. You might wonder if the freedom is really for someone like you, with your history, your specific mistakes.
That doubt is real. You don't have to pretend it isn't.
But the truth Jesus spoke wasn't meant for people who had it together. It was spoken to people who didn't. The freedom he offers isn't a reward for the ones who've cleaned themselves up — it's a rescue for the ones who can't.
You don't have to have the whole thing figured out today. You just have to be honest about where you are.
Today's Step Name one thing — just one — that has felt more like a chain than a choice lately. You don't have to fix it today. Just bring it into the light.
A Closing Thought Honesty before God is never the wrong move. He already knows, and he's not surprised — or done with you.
Grace You Can Actually Live In
Wednesday — Putting It Into Practice
What would today look like if you actually believed you were forgiven — not just in theory, but all the way down?
Today's Scripture "But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." — Romans 5:8
Reflection One of the most striking things about this verse is the timing. God didn't wait until you got your act together. He didn't hold out until you deserved it. He moved toward you while you were still in the middle of the mess.
That changes how you can live today.
If grace was given while you were at your worst, then you don't have to earn your way into God's good graces on your best days. You're already there. And that kind of security — the kind that doesn't depend on your performance — is meant to change the way you treat yourself and the people around you.
Here's something practical: think about someone in your life you've been withholding grace from. A family member. A coworker. Maybe yourself. The pastor put it plainly — the reason we can extend grace to others is because Jesus extended it to us first. We're not the source of grace; we're just passing it along.
Today, try this: when you feel the pull toward judgment — of someone else or yourself — pause and remember where you were when grace found you. Then let that soften something.
Freedom isn't permission to live carelessly. It's the ability to live joyfully, generously, without the crushing weight of keeping score.
Today's Step Is there one person — or maybe yourself — you could offer a small, genuine act of grace to today? Do that one thing.
A Closing Thought You were loved before you were ready. That's the kind of love worth living from.
The Weight That Finally Lifted
Thursday — What This Looks Like in Real Life
Sometimes the most powerful thing isn't a sermon or a verse — it's watching someone else walk out of something you're still stuck in.
Today's Scripture "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed." — Isaiah 53:5
Reflection Picture a man sitting around a fire with a group of other men. He came because a friend invited him. He planned to stay quiet, keep things surface level, leave without saying anything real.
Then someone else starts talking. And what comes out is something raw — a story of years spent running from guilt, of choices made in the dark that he'd never said out loud. And instead of the room going cold, something unexpected happens. The air gets lighter. Other voices follow. And this man who planned to stay silent finds himself saying the thing he swore he'd never say.
He didn't fix his past that night. But something broke loose. A shame he'd been carrying for decades suddenly had less power over him.
That's what Isaiah 53 is describing — not just a theological transaction, but a real transfer. Jesus took what belonged to us. The grief, the guilt, the iniquity. He bore it so we wouldn't have to carry it forever.
The healing Isaiah talks about isn't always instant. But it's real. And it often starts the moment we stop pretending the weight isn't there.
Your story doesn't have to stay buried. The cross was built to hold exactly what you've been carrying.
Today's Step What have you been carrying in silence that you might be ready to bring to God — or to a trusted person — today?
A Closing Thought What Jesus carried to the cross, he carried so you wouldn't have to carry it alone.
Standing in What You've Been Given
Friday — Carrying It Forward
You've spent a week sitting with one of the most important truths there is. Now comes the part where you carry it with you.
Today's Scripture "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." — Galatians 5:1
Reflection Paul's instruction here is worth reading twice. He doesn't just say "you are free." He says stand fast in it — hold your ground, don't drift back, don't let the old chains get a second grip.
Because they'll try. Old patterns have long memories. Guilt has a way of knocking on the door even after it's been evicted. The voices that told you you're not enough don't always go quietly.
That's why this verse is a call to active posture, not passive hope. Standing fast means choosing, day after day, to live like what Jesus did actually counts — for you, not just in general.
This weekend, you'll step back into ordinary life: the commute, the family dinner, the conversation that might get tense, the quiet moment before bed. In all of it, you get to carry this: you are not defined by what held you before. You are defined by what Jesus paid for you.
Christians, the pastor said, should be the most joyous people in the world. Not because life is always easy, but because we know how the story ends — and we know whose we are right now.
That's worth standing in.
Today's Step As you head into the weekend, write down one word that captures what freedom in Christ means to you personally. Keep it somewhere you'll see it.
A Closing Thought The price is paid. The invitation is open. You get to walk into this weekend free.