Bondage

SCRIPTURE:  It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 NIV

THOUGHT: Would you understand what I mean if I told you I didn’t always feel free and I didn’t always cherish freedom? Have you ever felt that way, because if not, this Scripture may not burn in your heart as it does mine.

Some memories never die, and this scene is burned in my memory. I am singing in the choir at my mega church one Easter morning about 20 years ago. We are belting out the special music, This is How it Feels to Be Free. Suddenly, I couldn’t sing anymore. I was choking on my tears and on words I didn’t understand. So I lip-synced the rest of the song with tears and snot rolling down my face, dripping onto my pretty, purple Easter dress. How I longed to understand what freedom in Christ meant. But it was the hardest of all Christian concepts to grasp because I was enslaved, mostly to the opinions of others. Wanting to please and to be accepted had been the trap of my life. It had landed me in so many places I wasn’t prepared for, places where I didn’t belong, places of great pain and loss. All because I wanted to be loved, when the gift of love was already mine, given by the Creator of the Universe, who loved me enough to step from eternity into time to shed his blood for my freedom.

If you’re still young and reading this, just know that every day you make choices that lead to freedom or choices that lead to slavery. I still have those choices everyday too, but they got a lot harder as I got older and all my choices began to own me.

I watch everything happening in our culture and country from the perspective of those years. It’s harder to fight for freedom after you lose it than it is to make the choices that keep it alive and well in your life. Late in life, I became a freedom fighter; I came to love and appreciate the freedom Christ paid for, and the freedom the American military paid for, and the freedoms that exist in my life and home and relationships today.

By God’s grace, I am standing firm, aware that around every turn is another temptation to take up an oppressive yoke the marketplace is selling, and selling hard. But this is how it feels to be free, and I know it is too precious to squander.

SONG: This is How it Feels to Be Free, Brooklyn Tabernacle Choirhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_tbv76Pu2g

PRAYER: Oh God, thank you for freeing me from my addiction to people pleasing. Thank you for your Holy Spirit who lives and breathes life and freedom into me, and keeps me fighting to protect this amazing gift you’ve given.