Finding Freedom When Confined
In which Brent learns that Christ's freedom is not limited by life's circumstances
The Pun
The Prayer
At times I feel claustrophobic because of the limitations of life. When I don't have the energy to go where I want, the resources to get what I want, or feel well enough to enjoy what I want, freedom feels far away. I have known that liberty is promised to the believer but I felt a need today to revisit the exact nature of that freedom. How can a believer be highly limited in life and yet experience freedom in Christ? Eight passages concerning this issue have come to the forefront for me, although I am sure there are plenty more. Each gives a clue to me as to what it means to be free regardless of circumstances.
Real freedom means ...
... letting Jesus set us free
Real freedom does not begin with a muscular display of chain-breaking strength but rather an admittance of weakness in prayer to God. We need Jesus.
"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." (John 8:36)
... refusing slavery
The ropes which bind the weighty works of the flesh to our shoulders has been eternally severed. Yet the yoke can still be willfully lifted again. We must leave the former habits where they lay, remembering only the sorrow they brought.
"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1)
... living in the Spirit
Unbound, the joy of freedom is not found in the liberty to escape constraints but rather in the liberty to pursue what is good. And good fruitful life is always found by drawing close to God's presence and abiding constantly in the Spirit.
"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." (2 Corinthians 3:17)
... facing the truth
Being led by the Spirit into truth, the delivered do not bury their heads in the sand or close their eyes to difficult facts. Freedom comes from knowing that the Savior has already conquered all that our fearful eyes might see: our own sin, the temptations around us, dangers in the world, and trials to face. This Christ-given, wide-eyed honesty frees us to go where we never would have dared before.
"... and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32)
... knowing what God wants
The greatest truth of all to attain is a deep understanding of what the Father desires of His beloved children. His eyes look to and fro throughout the world, looking to strongly support someone who wants Him more than anything (2 Chronicles 16:9). For the one who wants God most, life is an unlimited experience in which to serve Him.
"... and I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts." (Psalm 119:45)
... doing
Human liberty and God's desire for us to obey Him are not at odds. Christ died to free us to do what we could never have before. He freed us to thrive and succeed in the outworking of meaningful, God-pleasing good works.
"But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing." (James 1:25)
... choosing to serve
Freedom is not an opportunity to serve ourselves but a power to serve God and others. It is a choice and no choice is a more free choice than the one to lay ourselves down of our own accord as the Master Himself did. In liberty, no one nor anything nor any circumstance can take the life already offered as a living sacrifice.
"Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God." (1 Peter 2:16)
"For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." (Galatians 5:13)
I am beginning to believe that this sort of freedom is the more valuable sort. The greater freedom is not to do as we please but the freedom to do what pleases God. Christ freed us to meaningfully give ourselves away and no one can steal the life that was freely offered to begin with.