We celebrate freedom in the U.S. with great fervor. Freedom is lauded as the construct which founds our country, and the ideal for which people are willing to die, to fight and to yell about on Facebook. And I agree. Freedom is phenomenal. But I would argue that most of us don’t actually live in freedom. We might participate in religious freedom, or enjoy the ability to say what we think without imprisonment, but do you really enjoy freedom in your own personal life?
Do you have freedom from fear? From anxiety? From the worries of what other people think? From the pressures of an image-driven society? From the financial woes and stresses of life? Most of us laud the freedom of a country while knowing nothing about true freedom in a personal way.
I don’t write this as one who has freedom in every area, but I have tasted freedom in some places in my life and it is sweet! If I don’t have to worry about what someone thinks of me, I can entrust my life to my tender Father who surrounds me like a strong tower, not defining me by what humans might but by His own love and Life within me. If money or lack thereof doesn’t dictate how I make choices in my life today, I experience a freedom that moves past the enjoyment of having enough and says that regardless of how much I have or have not, I will be ok. And the One who feeds the sparrows and dresses the lilies is aware of what I need and provides exactly what is enough.
These freedoms are beautiful but purchased through hard-fought battles. I suppose freedom is always bought with pain. I must refuse to define myself by the god which I’m worshipping in my prison. The god of anxiety, or appearance, or money, or fear. I have to let go of the definition brought to my life by these gods, and recognize that is not who I am. What gods do you allow to define you?
When I start to redefine myself by what Jesus has said about me, I can acknowledge Him as the God who should be God while everything else drops off the throne. I don’t define myself or Him by any of those fears anymore, and ask Him to teach me about Himself. The constraints and preimaginings can go by the wayside as I walk in the freedom of relationship. I believe that as He teaches us who He is, we get to understand who we are in light of that in a fresh way. We can break free of the things that have kept us captive, and walk forward in the freedom His Life brings. We no longer experience condemnation of definition--the condemnation that comes when we define ourselves in any way other than how God defines us.
Do you want real, tangible freedom today? Will you ask Him for the revelation of who He is and who you are so that nothing can hold you captive anymore?
So now the case is closed. There remains no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in life-union with Jesus, the Anointed One. Romans 8:1
Let me be clear, the Anointed One has set us free—not partially, but completely and wonderfully free! We must always cherish this truth and stubbornly refuse to go back into the bondage of our past. Galatians 5:1