Tag: freedom

Categories
Christian Living

Dutiful and Obedient Love

A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none;
a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to every one.

Although these statements appear contradictory, yet, when they are found to agree together, they will be highly serviceable to my purpose. They are both the statements of Paul himself, who says: “Though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all,” and: “Owe no man anything, but to love one another.”

Now love is by its own nature dutiful and obedient to the beloved object. Thus even Christ, though Lord of all things, was yet made of a woman; made under the law; at once both free and a servant; at once both in the form of God and in the form of a servant.

–Martin Luther

Though you are a person who is free, have you placed yourself into a love relationship with God and others, choosing voluntary service to them?

You have told your spouse that you love her. Would she say that you serve her well?
You hug your children and tell them that you love them. Would they say that you serve them well?
You tell God that you love Him. Would He say that you serve Him well?

God told you that He loved you. Then He died on the cross for you. Jesus served you well with dutiful and obedient love! It is now my calling and your calling to go do the same for Him and for others.

Categories
Jesus

The Freedom of Someone Else In Charge

“The Freedom of Someone Else In Charge”
brian rushing

In school, we were occasionally required to do group projects. Group projects were the worst.

At first it would seem that group projects would be great – more people sharing the burden to get the work done. But that was rarely the reality.

I love the t-shirt quote I recently encountered:
“When I die I want my group project members to lower me into my grave so they can let me down one last time.”

The reason group projects didn’t work well very often is that no one knew who was in charge and no one wanted to volunteer to be in charge. But as soon as someone did step into that “group leader” role, they became the responsible one to get the work done. It then seemed that everyone else then decided to become lazy or incompetent!

A person sleeping on a grassy hill symbolizing the Freedom of Someone Else being in Charge
i think this is one of my group project members

What we learn from such exercises is that: Being in charge requires responsibility.

When you have agreed to provide the leadership for an event or a project, the burden of responsibility can get heavy. That is why most of us would prefer to not be the group leader. If someone else gets assigned that role or voluntarily chooses it, then we feel much more relaxed and we often wash our hands of the consequences. We take the attitude of: “Well, he is in charge, so if it doesn’t go well… if it isn’t successful… the blame falls on him.”

And while most of us never wanted to take on that group leader role, Jesus is different. He says to us: “Give me your life. I want to be in charge of it.”

I like the idea that if I give Him that responsibility, I can wash my hands of the consequences. Others in the Bible found that same freedom. Take Daniel and his three friends as an example:

Those who know God show great boldness for God.

Daniel and his friends were men who stuck their necks out. This was not foolhardiness. They knew what they were doing. They had counted the cost. They had measured the risk. They were well aware what the outcome of their actions would be unless God miraculously intervened, as in fact He did.

But these things did not move them. Once they were convinced that their stand was right, and that loyalty to their God required them to take it, then, in Oswald Chambers’s phrase, they “smilingly washed their hands of the consequences.”

“We must obey God rather than men!” said the apostles.

“I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course with joy,” said Paul.

I’m striving to do a better job of letting Jesus take the lead, so I can smilingly wash my hands of the consequences! I like the freedom of letting Him be in charge.


        (Quotes in today’s post are from Knowing God by J. I. Packer)


Categories
Christian Living

My Unmet Expectations

There are times when we have “great expectations,” but when the expected event arrived, the reality was much different. For example,

Hands on Steering Wheel symbolizing Unmet Expectations drivingI remember the joy of getting my driver’s license – I had GREAT expectations. Expectations of freedom… of traveling all over town with my friends… of going wherever I wanted to whenever I wanted. And then reality smacked me in the face, as I heard such statements as:
“Go pick up your brother from soccer practice.”
“We are out of milk. Drive over to the grocery store and pick up a gallon… and while you are there, pick up some bread, and some cereal, and also a newspaper, and…

Instead of Mr. Independence, I found I’d become Errand Boy!

Or take marriage for example (don’t worry, I’m going to tread LIGHTLY here!)
But we often have an expectation of marriage that is quite different from reality.

I was told about marriage that: “You will find that you will never be as happy with another person, AND you’ll never be as angry at another person.” Most of us find this to be true. We find that our spouse can take us to both extremes easier than anyone else. Also in marriage – we have these romantic ideas, such as sleeping soundly snuggled up to our spouse. But the romantic expectation is not often the reality. In our house, we have at least two problems that prevent sleeping soundly in our bed like they show on the Sleep Number bed commercials:

#1. My wife, Paige… is a blanket stealer.
She does the grab & roll move, so that I wake up I at 4am in the morning and find myself shivering because I am having to use my pillow as a blanket.
#2. My wife, Paige… says that her husband is a snorer.
But I have never heard it, so I am not sure I believe it. Can you really trust the word of a blanket stealer?

Another Unmet Expectation that I have not experienced personally, but which I know occurs often is in regard to parenting. The expectation that OUR children will be perfect angels – unlike the wild banshee children who live next door! Before you have your own children you say such things as: “I would never let my child act like that. I can’t believe that parent is letting their child do that. I would never be a parent that does that.”

Before you become a parent, you have all the answers of how parenting works… as if it is some simple formula like 2+2 always = 4. Your expectation is that: All you have to do to parent properly is follow the formula and everything will work out fine and your children will be perfect angels. We think all these other parents are just blockheads that have decided not to follow the formula.” But then that precious baby shows up on the scene… and all our expectations are thrown out the window!

The main problem seems to be that all parents fall under the curse that their own parents put on them during childhood by stating: “When you have a child, I hope he/she is JUST LIKE YOU!” And that curse ALWAYS comes true. At which point all parenting formulas go out the window.

As one man said: “When I had no children, I had six different methods for parenting. Now I have 6 children and no methods – I just try to get through each day.”

The problem with Unmet Expectations in these areas and many others is that when our expectations are not met, doubts set in. We might even begin having doubts if we were really cut out for driving, marriage, or parenting. Why aren’t things working out like I expected them to?

Sadly, many people have their faith in God shaken when their expectations are unmet. “I’m a good person. Why is this happening to me? God can’t be a good God if this is happening.” But our unmet expectations do not negate the goodness of God. We have to learn to trust God even when our expectations are not met. Our role in this world is not to have our expectations met as if we are the stars of the story, but rather to exalt the One who is the Center of it all – the true Star of all History.

How do you keep from doubting God when reality sets in and your expectations are not met?

Categories
Christian Living

Freedom from Suffering

“Suffering affects each of us in three ways:
1. Suffering as the result of living in a fallen world (e.g., infertility, natural disasters, etc.);
2. Suffering as the result of my personal sin (e.g., addictions, anger, racism, etc.); and
3. Suffering as the result of someone else’s sin (e.g., victims of abuse, hate, anger, etc.).
Our churches are filled with people in every category.”

Because of this suffering, we want freedom – in fact, we need freedom. But how will we get this freedom? Jesus tells us that we can only receive complete liberty by becoming his disciples – and that occurs through faith in Him and obedience to His Word. Therefore, our task is to lead people out of suffering into the way of freedom by pointing them to the only One who can give freedom. After we choose to begin a relationship with Him, He will start pointing out areas in our life that need to be “cleaned up.” He will also give us the power to obey Him.

“In the end, therefore, the goal or aim of gospel-centered leadership is the formation of Christ in people who long to see the formation of Christ in other people. We are called to make disciples who make disciples. It should be clear from what we know about our own sanctification process that this is a slow, arduous calling requiring patience and perseverance…. Discipleship is long, slow, and messy. In short, it’s hard to measure.”

checklistThat is why it is not something that we can just “check off the list.” Instead, discipleship (and therefore complete freedom) is something that takes a life-time to accomplish – but it is so worth it! I continue to be amazed at how faithful God is at giving me freedom from suffering and freedom from worry as I turn more of my life over to Him. I hope you’ll join me in testing this promise of God to its full measure.

We will find Him faithful!

(Quotes from ‘Creature of the Word’ by Matt Chandler)

Categories
Christian Living

You Are Not Free To Do What You Want

Have you ever looked through an old window whose glass has become distorted with age? glass windowWhen we look at the world through an aged window or through the side of a glass bottle, our vision is distorted due to the fact that we have added an inconsistent filter between us and the world we are viewing. An inconsistent filter gives inconsistent images… leading to wrong ideas about the “shape” of something. To see things properly, we have to change the filter we are looking through.

And bottles aren’t the only inconsistent filter!

Our own families, our education, our culture, our society… all of these are filters that prompt us to “look at” (& think about) the world around us in a certain way. How we think about people, about money, about entertainment… these filters color our perception and understanding. And unless we are aware of this, we won’t even know that we are looking at things through a lens that distorts.

So what we end up doing is looking at everything, even the Word of God, through the filter of American society, instead of looking at American society through the filter of God’s Word.

And since we are using a distorting lens, we Christians in America end up distorting the truths of God’s Word. We have somehow molded our understanding of the Scriptures around our American beliefs, such that we have distorted God’s teachings to help them “line-up” with American society. This leads to us having inconsistent lives and beliefs. And then we wonder why people who aren’t Christians have a hard time understanding God’s Word. What are some ways we do this?

  • When we pray more for the poor physical health of other Christians than we do for people who don’t yet know Jesus (and therefore already have “poor” spiritual health), then we have distorted why Jesus came to this earth.

  • When we are more focused on our entertainment (watching our TV, reading our novels, engaging in our outdoor recreational activities) than on reading God’s Word and talking to Him about it, then we have distorted how to develop a deep relationship with God.

  • When we consider our disobedience to God as “not that bad” because we are comparing them to the “worse” sins of others, instead of deciding to see how close we can have our lives line up with Jesus’, then we have distorted what it means to be a disciple.

  • When we have become so fixated on money and image that we will give our waiters and waitresses 20% tips so they think we are nice people, and buy houses and cars and “stuff” that cost exorbitant amounts to impress people we don’t know, and go into debt just so we can keep up with the “Joneses,” though we don’t even come close to giving 10% of our income to God, then we have distorted our understanding of God as provider and have worshiped the idol of the almighty dollar and the American dream above our Heavenly Father.

  • When pastors learn to become professionals who can run a church as a CEO and have everything their hearts’ desire without ever really seeking God’s face for direction, then we have distorted what it means to be a shepherd of God’s church.

  • When we believe that discussing politics, boycotting places that don’t share our beliefs, and calling & writing our senators about their political agendas are more important than telling our neighbors about Jesus and more important than discipling less mature Christians, then we have distorted our understanding of the Great Commission.

  • When we are more fixated on pleasing ourselves, on obtaining the American dream, about having blessings and comfort and security, then we have distorted what our freedom and liberty in Christ are all about.

    • You are not free to do whatever you would like.
    You are free to do whatever Jesus would like.
    You were bought with a price… by Him.

    What will you do to help reorient yourself to a healthier (and less distorted) Biblical understanding of discipleship?

    Can you think of other areas of Christianity that we have distorted?