Recognizing Freedom — Broken & Hopeful
I just got to spend an incredible weekend with a beautiful group of women talking about freedom in Christ. I was so excited about what God was teaching me through preparing for the women’s retreat, I wanted to share some of it in a blog post.
Freedom is not something we create, but rather recognize. We are recognizing the freedom Jesus has already provided for us. He has done all the work, and the responsibility for freeing us from sin, shame, rejection, and so many other things is all His. When we accept this gift, we slowly begin to move into the realization of this freedom.
From what are we free? From our past and the negative identity messages that have been ingrained in our minds as we acknowledge the new life given and the Truth that sets us free. We are free from rejection and people-pleasing as we recognize that crazy people don’t get to tell me who I am—only Jesus gets to tell me who I am now. We are free from being a slave to emotion as I realize that emotion isn’t bad, but it should never be in charge and should be led with truth. We are free from the world’s definition of success and failure as I recognize that success defined by God is knowing Him (Jn 17:3) and depending on Him for every bit of my daily life. We are free from fear as we recognize perfect love casts out fear and can move into being motivated by love instead of fear. We are free from comparison—seeing people with God’s eyes and loving them rather than trying to feel more superior through comparison. We are free from walking in sin as we realize sin isn’t natural or comfortable for the believer who loves Jesus, but this isn’t a guilt motivation but rather a natural outflow of Christ’s life in us. We are free from filling needs with things of this world, as we realize they are like cotton candy—taste good for a minute but have no nutritional value or sustenance. We are free from religion as we see the rules never helped anyone be free, but the relationship is the beginning of freedom.
We are then free to operate FROM a place of acceptance instead of FOR a place of acceptance! We are able to see ourselves as God sees us and has made us to be. We are free to offer kindness and blessing to those who disagree or hate us as the fruit of the Spirit is for those around us who don’t necessarily deserve it. We are free to a different perspective—seeing God in everything rather than defining things based on our limited perspective and definitions. We are free to believe differently about God as we recognize our emotional concept of God is quite skewed its basis of experiences rather than truth, and allow Him to change that to be something true of His character. We are free to minister to others in this freedom, not defining ourselves by ministry but by Jesus as He empowers us. We are free to walk in pleasing God not because we are afraid but because we are full and overflowing with His love. We are free to a different life with a different focus, knowing God in what He has called us to do. We are free to praise in brokenness and pain, which makes us invincible as nothing can steal our joy! We are free to not need self-protection because we are hiding in the wrap-around love of Jesus and can be simply who He made us to be. We are free to be brave, even when afraid of something. We are free to love without comparison, for you can’t love while comparing.
You are free because Jesus has freed you! Walk in the freedom, not going back to a place of condemnation or judgement. You already have freedom, but you get to learn to walk in it. So, take His hand and enjoy it!
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. Gal 5:1
