Freedom - Paige Puckett

There is a lesson I must learn over and over again. It is humiliating that I never get it right. It is exasperating that I find myself full circle time and time again. Here’s the setup: I am alone in a vast field surrounded by a mass of people coming at me. There is nowhere to run, and like a child in my bed too scared to sleep, I try to pull the covers over my eyes and pretend they are not there. King Jehoshaphat in the Old Testament found himself in a similar circumstance with three actual armies coming against him and his kingdom. In a complete state of helplessness he and his people turned to God in fasting and prayer. This is what the messenger of the Lord said to him,

He said: "Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: 'Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's. 2 Chronicles 20:15

Unlike Jehoshaphat, the mass of people in my circumstance represents the sin patterns in my life, my personal disappointment, the damage I have done to myself and others. I feel overpowered and nearly taken. In a mere moment I could be completely wiped out. I fully recognize the state of my despair, and I wish to hide from it. Sometimes I try in vain to fight it. Sometimes I want to just surrender. The point is, I, surrounded by sin and am already defeated. I am already a slave. There is no power within in me capable of rescuing myself. I forget this. And in forgetting, unlike Jehoshaphat, I fail to call upon the freedom of Christ. I forget that this is not my battle to fight. Last week, I came back full circle while reading Romans 1 and 2. I nearly cried when I remembered that I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. My only hope is to cling to Him as He fights the battle on my behalf. Somewhere in the battle I got too big for my pants and started swinging my fists. Just last week discovered I was no longer clinging to him.

To spell it out a bit more, whatever we struggle with, whatever sins we repeatedly fall into, whatever spiritual hiccup keeps knocking us to our knees, we are not slaves to. We are no longer under the law and therefore cannot be ruled by sin. Christ has set us free, free to love and obey him. However, hear this and hear this well: obedience is not fighting sin. Obedience is not fighting temptation. Obedience is not self-correction. Obedience is loving Christ as he fights our battles for us. Obedience is dying to ourselves and living in the life of Christ. This is where we find freedom.

Titus 3: 3-7 says:

At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

I pray for the joy of a newfound discovery of my freedom. I pray for the relief of no longing swinging my fists and living in shame. I pray for the peace of being reconciled to God. I pray that you too would know this freedom.

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Phillipians 1:21