Set Free

“I just gave it to God . . . and He took it.”

A few weeks ago, my brother shared with me a conversation he’d had with a lost sheep he’d encountered. They were discussing vices, hinderances. The sheep had a desire to overcome hers, and my brother shared how he did overcome his.

Nearly a month later, I’m still digesting that one statement.

“I just gave it to God . . . and He took it.”

I have given it to God, am giving it to God, but admittedly, I don’t always leave it with Him. And God, being the good God He is, He doesn’t make me. I’m free to leave it in His capable hands, but I’m also free to foolishly to take it back.

It’s an open-ended freedom, this freedom that God so freely gives.

In America, we are free to gather, free to pray, free to worship.

As believers, we are free to pursue a life of righteousness. But we’re also free to chase a life of sin.

We have the freedom to love and the freedom to hate.

The freedom to pray and the freedom to curse.

The freedom to let go of what weighs us down, and the freedom to fasten our own chains.

We are free to choose.

Friends, we are known by God. That in and of itself is a powerful statement. We have been redeemed through His Son, Jesus Christ, and through that redemption, we have been adopted into sonship, free to call on the help of the Father. (Galatians 4:4-7).

On the flip side, we are free to pursue the desires of this world, to re-enter the shackles of bondage and allow our idols to lord over us. (Galatians 4:9-11)

Paul recognized this. In Galatians, 5:1, he tells us “It is for freedom that Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

You see, it’s up to us. God saves, but His grace isn’t forced, His mercy never mandatory. His burden is easy and His yoke is light (Matthew 11:28-30), but it is not inflicted upon us. It is gifted. And a gift isn’t truly a gift unless it is received.

I urge you to receive it, friends.  It’s quite literally the difference in (spiritual) life and death.

Stand firm in your faith, Paul says, because we have been granted freedom from the power and penalty of sin, but we also have the freedom to pursue it.

In fact, the only freedom we don’t have is the freedom from the repercussions of how we choose to use our freedom. These repercussions can be good: a life of fellowship with the Lord, His unending grace, unfailing love, and abounding forgiveness. Or, they can be negative, evoking God’s judgement, His anger, and ultimately slavery and spiritual death.

Sometimes, these repercussions cast shock waves that reach those in our circle: our friends, family, or anyone that crosses spaces with us. How we utilize our freedom, how we live our lives . . . this is a testimony of who Jesus is to us. And to the lost, it forms their opinion of who He is to them.

Willing or otherwise, we are all leaders with the freedom to choose where we are leading others to.

And knowingly or otherwise, regardless if one is a believer or not, we are all searching for the comfort that can only come from the Comforter.

It is up to us, then, to reflect what we expect. It’s gotta start right here, right now, in us.

Don’t pick those chains back up, friends. Don’t pledge your allegiance to false idols. Don’t cause Paul worry. Instead, cry out to Jesus. Abba! Father! Give Him what’s weighing you down or causing your feet to stumble, and live free of it. Stand firm and receive His guidance, His goodness freely given.

Contrary to some political belief, God was present in the signing of the Declaration of Independence—a document of FREEDOM.

God was present for our founding fathers, and He is present for us now.

“My chains are gone.

I’ve been set free.

My God, my Savior

Has ransomed me.”

And like a flood,

His mercy reigns.

Unending love,

Amazing grace.”