CLAIMING FREEDOM

Isaiah 22:1-24:23; Galatians 2:17-3:9; Psalm 60:1-12; Proverbs 23:15-16

“But all who are left shout and sing for joy. Those in the west praise the Lord’s majesty.  In eastern lands, give glory to the Lord. In the lands beyond the sea, praise the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. We hear songs of praise from the ends of the earth, songs that give glory to the Righteous One!”

“But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not! Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down. For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

“You have rejected us, O God, and broken our defenses. You have been angry with us; now restore us to your favor. You have shaken our land and split it open. Seal the cracks, for the land trembles. … Now rescue your beloved people. Answer and save us by your power.”

“My child, if your heart is wise, my own heart will rejoice! Everything in me will celebrate when you speak what is right.”

As a child of God, I am supposed to be free. Free from sin, free from guilt, free from the obligation to perform according to the law. However, I continually find myself returning to the guilt of a life determined and bounded by rules and regulations. I rebuild walls Christ has torn down. I pray for God to rescue me from demons and death when He has already done everything necessary to defeat all that would separate me from Him. In short, I expend way too much effort trying to overcome that which no longer should have any hold on me, and not enough time living past my previous, personal limitations. I do not take freedom seriously enough.

Freedom that remains unclaimed is no freedom at all. Most, if not all, of us do not claim even the freedom to which we are entitled as followers of Christ. Far fewer dare to dream of greater freedoms in the Holy Spirit’s power. We do not cultivate or live in freedom, first, because we are not sure just how free we should be. Second, we lack imagination. We cannot imagine forgiving anyone else as thoroughly and unconditionally as God has forgiven us, so to some extent, most of us continue to live in some form of self-imposed bondage of guilt. Only now, the bondage in which we live is a slavery that no longer actually exists.

What might we do, what risks might we take, if we honestly believed we could start with a truly clean slate? If we were not haunted by past failures and intimidated by the spectre of present shortcomings, we doubtless would live much more courageously and fearlessly.

God does not want us to make a habit of fear or failure. Instead, He desires that we live as if we really understand and accept the fact that, at least in eternal terms, we simply cannot fail. If we are living for Christ, and the Spirit is living through us, victory will be our reality. On the other hand, when we live beneath Jesus’ vision for our lives, we deprive ourselves of some of the fun and wonder that comes with being a beloved child of God.