I’m free to to be a slave

Writing bits and pieces of this all week– especially this week– I found the idea of freedom, and this country’s popular motivation behind it, a challenge for me to dive deeper into the spiritual reality of what true freedom means.

Isn’t it great that one-hundred-percent of who I am and where I end up is written and defined by Christ’s work on the cross?

In other words, what anyone thinks about me, what I think about me, how much money I have in the bank, the time on the stop watch, the fit of my jeans, the interactions I have with others are nothing outside of what Christ has done for me.

In other other words: this world neither takes nor gives anything of value.

Weighing these words, I realize the heaviness of who I am in this world at this time in history among the community I live. Almighty God, Creator of the Universe, King of kings lives in me by His Spirit, so I have all the makings of massive influence and powerful living.

wow.

What a gift: that I get to serve the great I AM all the days of my life, at no expense but of this world, all for the glory of the One who gives me the strength to do so. How counter-cultural, radical, and sacrificial this kind of lifestyle is in contrast to all that is “good, comfortable, and normal” in the world. The benefits far outweigh the costs.

Benefit #1: my entire identity is wrapped tight in His robe of righteousness

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with jewels. (Isaiah 61:10)

That the never-changing God of Abraham, Job, Jacob, Moses, Paul has clothed me in salvation and covered me in righteousness, naturally commands a posture of thanksgiving, kneeling at His feet, ever ready to serve. This servitude begins at the end of me and my desires, that my only desire may be to glorify Creator God.

Benefit #2: my gaze is heavenward no matter the circumstances of earth

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:6-7)

The very deepest parts of me are Jesus-filled and God-designed. All I am and all I have are the thumbprints of God Himself, this world has nothing on Him because it can’t bring any circumstance He hasn’t already conquered, or offer any good thing He hasn’t already topped. Freedom reigns in the hearts of the redeemed.

Benefit #3:  my life as a slave to righteousness means freedom to walk in grace

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8: 1-2)

Because of Christ’s finished work on the cross, I am free to be all in for Him. He paid it all so I don’t have to, leaving me with all the time in the world to give back to God. I am the most free because I lack condemnation and receive daily an abundance of grace.

Just as in America, freedom comes at the cost of lives. My freedom came at the expense of the ultimate, perfect life of Jesus. He gave His life so I don’t have to. He died so I could live and you don’t know true freedom until your unconquerable debt has been paid in full. And you don’t know true servitude until you know Jesus. The only response to this freedom is servitude.

And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (Mark 8:34)

Deny myself, take up my cross and follow Him. I deny this world, all that is in it and of it– my pride, my expectations, my will, society’s expectations of me. I take up my cross daily in those things and in my relationships and in anything I pursue this side of glory. And I follow the One who called me out of darkness and into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).

I think that living in the freest part of the world, during the freest time in history, makes for the hardest setting to be a true slave in. It’s harder to deny yourself when everything around you tells you to indulge yourself. It’s harder to take up your cross when everything around you tells you to take the easy, feel-good way out. It’s harder to follow only Jesus  when you actually have everything, and you have to learn to count it all as nothing because surrendering everything gives you all you ever desired.

But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus–the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God. (Acts 20:24)

#Bible #Faith