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.