I don’t know why, but every July I get this image of Mel Gibson’s blue face crying at the top of his lungs, “FREEDOM!!!”. His portrayal of William Wallace is one of my favorites. ( My wife refuses to allow me to purchase blue face paint or a kilt. Which I believe demonstrates good judgement on her part.)
I like to think that William Wallace would have adjusted well to Wyoming – at least in character if not in climate. And there certainly was a spirit for freedom in him that resonates with the “cowboy” in all of us. We want freedom. We love to serve when it is our choice and we can give a good thing to others. But, we want the freedom to give, and resent people or policies that exact those same things from us.
There are a number of freedoms that we deeply desire. We desire to be free to live in integrity. We long to be honorable people of our “word”. We strive to improve the world around us. We are in need of the freedom to extend true kindness. We are desperate to give our children as much as we are able in order establish their futures. I am sure that we could list many other freedoms that we would like to possess or even maintain.
I just wanted to take a moment to remind during this month as our nation celebrates it’s independence, that you are free. No government, job, or cultural expectation can take that from you IF you have the courage to be free.
Galatians 5:1 (NLT) So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.
Have you ever wondered if FREEDOM has more to do with what you believe than it does with the laws or cultural expectations under which you live? The simple truth is that Jesus’ Death and Resurrection establish our freedom from sin and its power. Of course, you may think that freedom from sin is unrelated to the restraints you daily withstand. But, sin is very much the cause of the bondage common to our experience. Our trouble in life is not that believers are in bondage to sin, failure, and etc. Our difficulty is that we still live like slaves.
Just as the nation of Israel, after spending many years in slavery, when granted their freedom, continued to behave as though they were slaves. They often approached God and Moses, not has a Loving God and a humble leader, but as the slave masters in Egypt to which they were so accustomed.
Today I just wanted to remind you, that because of Salvation, you are no longer a slave. You are no longer in Bondage. But you do need to learn to live a new way.
2 Corinthians 3:17 (NLT) For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
The Holy Spirit is the answer for the condemnation and guilt we so commonly endure. We know in our innermost being that guilt, condemnation and shame are the burdens of slavery. It is time that we learned to live in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:1-17) Obviously that is a much larger subject, but I do pray that you will lauch upon a journey of discovery into what it means to walk with God by living in the Holy Spirit.