Freedom - part 3

I have been thinking about this a lot lately.  Thanks to God for giving us the freedom to choose to follow Him.  But it would be so much easier and less stressful if He just required obedience.  But then, it wouldn't be love.

Many times I fall into the trap of comparisons.  I look at my life as a child and compare that to what my children have now - they don't match up.  I compare my life to my friends and neighbors - they don't match up.  I compare my job to my mentors or friends - they don't match up.  I compare, and compare, and compare, but am found lacking.

I think a great movie is "A Knight's Tale".  It is about a peasant who takes up the life of a knight after he has died.  He is telling lies about his heritage and lineage, so that he can live out his dream of a knight.  He is found out and the villain tells him, "You have been weighed.  You have been measured.  And you have been found lacking."  I feel this way many times when it comes to my relationship with God.  I feel that I have been found lacking.

Check out this passage from Galatians 5.23-26:

Legalism is helpless in bringing this about (the life of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit); it only gets in the way.  Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed of for good -- crucified.

Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every details of our lives.  That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse.  We have far more interesting things to do with our lives.  Each of us is an original.

The idea of freedom, which comes from salvation as a free gift, is something hard to grasp.  It is something that we don't just need to hold onto as a lofty goal.  It is something that should permeate every aspect of our lives.  It is something that should seep out every pore of our being.  Yes, freedom in Christ is a great concept and a wonderful, warm-and-fuzzy sentiment, but it needs to be so much more.

We have been set free from the law of sin and death.  We have been created for a purpose, an original, unique purpose.  We are masterpieces of God's craftsmanship.  But have we allowed this to come out in EVERY detail of our lives.  As one translation puts it: "work out your salvation with fear and trembling." 

We need to allow this to become more than just a concept, or goal.  It must become a way of life.  When we begin to truly understand how free we are in Christ, then we will stop living with the guilt and shame.  We will be less stressed and more happy.  This doesn't mean that we don't make lists or plans, but it means that we live according to God's plan and principles.

I don't know if any of this makes sense or answers any questions.  I think that many of these just raise more questions.  So "let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every details of our lives."

Freedom - part 2

This concept of freedom in Christ is hard to grasp.  It is hard to understand.  It is even harder to live.  As people we love the comfort of checklists.  My wife, early on in our marriage, tried to get me to make lists.  The problem was that I lost my list.  But lists are a great way to organize things.  They help us stay on track.  They also help us see where we aren't being effective or efficient in our lives.  The problem is that we then transfer this to our relationship with God.  If I managed my relationship with my wife and girls by a list, would that be truly considered love.  Or would it lessen my love expressions to just a "To Do" list.

Check out what Paul says about this free life in Galatians 5.16-23:

My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit.  Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness.  For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness.  These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day.  Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?

It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival,; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community.  I could go on.

This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know.  If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.

But what happens when we live God's way?  He brings gifts into our lives, must the same way that fruit appears in an orchard--things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity.  We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people.  We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

 Which picture represents your life--the life lived by the flesh or the one controlled by the Spirit?  Our freedom comes not from obedience, but our obedience comes from our freedom.  We are free to live life according to whatever way we want.  Are you living life your way or God's way?

Freedom - part 1

When I say this word I want to shout it out like William Wallace in the movie Braveheart, I just don't want to be in the position he was in as he screamed it for the last time.

Freedom is such a great word - such a great concept.  Are any of us really free though?  What does freedom look like?

Christ has set us free to live a free life.  So take your stand!  Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.  I am emphatic about this.  The moment any one of you submits to circumcision or any other rule-keeping system, at that same moment Christ's hard-won gift of freedom is squandered.  I repeat my warning: The person who accepts the ways of circumcision trades all the advantages of the free life in Christ for the obligations of the slave life of the law.

I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens.  When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace.  Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit.  For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything.  What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love. Galatians 5.1-6 (MSG)

Many of us have been set free in Christ, but we have chained ourselves to religion.  We are set to keep the laws of Quiet Times and verbiage of prayer language.  We think that if we keep these rules and regulations then God will love us more.  But what happens when we miss a day of Quiet Time?  I don't know about you, but I feel guilty.  I begin to beat myself up.  I think that I'm a sub-par Christian because of it.  I have lost my standing with God because I missed a check box.

Is this really freedom?  How does this match up with the life that God intends for me?  I'm not talking about the prosperity gospel, but I have been set free from the law of sin and death.  Christ's death on the cross paid the price for my freedom.  I should live free.

Many of us live life as a bird in a cage.  The owner comes along and opens the cage door to give the bird the freedom to fly and soar, as he was created to do.  But the bird stays in the comfort and security of the cage.  It might step out for a bit, but it will return to the cage and stay there with the door wide open. 

We are like that.  Christ has set us free but we remain in the cage because it is safe and secure.  The outside world is a scary place.  But we have been set free to soar with the wings of eagles.  This is done through our relationship with Jesus.  Freedom is simply put: faith expressed in love.

Heritage

When Jen was in Montgomery people there would ask her, "Who are your people?"  Meaning, are you from the Jones' here in Montgomery.  I think that it is important to understand our heritage and history for several reasons.  One of which so we don't repeat the same mistakes as our ancestors.  The other, is to gain perspective from them about life and how I fit into it.

A couple of weeks ago I had the great privilege to be with my Great-Grandmother in California.  She is 101 years old.  It has been 27 years since I saw her last.  It was the best 3 hours of my day listening to her tell stories and spending time with her.  I took my computer with me and got to Skype with my family back home and let them "meet" Great-Great-Grandma via the internet.  It was wonderful to watch her interact with my daughters and see them in awe of such an amazing woman.

Jen commented that Grandma kept putting her head on my shoulder and holding my hand the entire time.  It was wonderful to spend time with her.  At one point holding back the tears, my Grandma touched my face and told me that she was proud of the man that I had become.  What a great encouragement.  I never knew how important it was to hear from your family that you had done well until that moment.  It was wonderful to know that someone who has lived so long and seen so much in life was proud of me.

There are so many people who have gone on before us in the Christian life that are watching us and proud of us.  Hebrews 12.1-3 gives us great perspective on this:

Do you see what this mean--all these pioneers who blasted the way, all these veterans cheering us on?  It means we'd better get on with it.  Strip down, start running--and never quit!  No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins.  Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in.  Study how he did it.  Because he never lost sight of where he was headed--that exhilarating finish in and with God--he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever.  And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.  When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls.

Remember those who have lived before you and make them proud.  Remember God, who walked this road ahead of you, and make Him proud.