freedom

Freedom. My favorite word. 

Freedom can mean a) the state of being free or at liberty rather than confinement or under physical restraint or b) the power to determine action without restraint

Before this season of life I probably would’ve said that ‘freedom’ was just a cliche word that you hear in church. It has taken on a whole new meaning for me these days. The Lord has opened my eyes to what true freedom in Him means and what it looks like for me in this place that i’m in. He continually reminds me that we, as Christians, are free from condemnation, free from anything the enemy tries to throw in front of us, and free to be exactly who He created us to be.

I think that freedom and love go hand in hand. You can’t have one without the other and in this life with Him we are free from striving to be accepted by Him. He loves us because it’s who He is. He can’t help it. He is a Father and a proud one at that. His love is one that will meet us exactly where we are. We don’t have to measure up for Him to love us more. We don’t have to shower and change out of our dirty rags to come into His presence. We can be with Him in the pit of pigs and slop. He will meet us there. He will trade our rags for a robe and our slop for a feast. He is a redeemer. He is a father who comes running off the porch to greet us when He sees us coming in the distance. When we have blown our inheritance, He gives us His. When we’re crawling around in the mud, struggling to see our potential and struggling to make it through the day He extends His hand and uses His strength to restore us back to where we are in His sight. By extending His hand, He extends His grace and His freedom. He doesn’t ask where you spent your inheritance or what you wasted it on, but He throws you a party just to celebrate you. 

In His love is freedom like you’ve never known before. Freedom to be the quirky, funny, kind hearted, stubborn, joyful you that He made you to be. Embracing who you are can be scary and hard at times but all He asks is that you come. Come with an open heart, which is even scarier in my opinion. He, unlike everyone else, can be trusted with your open heart. He honors vulnerability and I think that is where true freedom starts. 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 (MSG) says “Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face to face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.” This is my favorite verse because Paul so perfectly describes what freedom looks like. It looks like throwing off your old way of thinking and living a life where you never take your eyes away from His.

Romans 6:14 MSG

Throw yourselves whole heartedly and full time- remember, you’ve been raised from the dead!- into God’s way of doing things. Sin can’t tell you how to live. After all, you’re not living under that old tyranny any longer. You’re living in the freedom of God. 

John 8:34-35

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed…”