Called to Freedom

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Colossians 3:1

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. Galatians 5:1

God wants you fulfilled. God wants you satisfied. God wants you to be “okay” — more than “okay,” he wants you to experience life beyond your your greatest imagination. Jesus said that he came so that we might have “more and better life than you ever imagined” — imagine that. God wants you to thrive, not just survive. Through his life, death and resurrection, Jesus makes all of this available to you as his free gift. Jesus wants you free.

The reality is, however, that though the gift is free, many of us do not appropriate this gift for ourselves. Some never choose to accept his gift; others, tragically, choose to follow him, but do so in a less than full way, crippled by things that have more control over them than they intended to give them and so do not experience the freedom that Christ bought. These things in our lives that claim to have power are, in fact, powerless. They are powerless because of the empty tomb, because Jesus died for freedom, and Jesus wants you to live in freedom and not slavery. The gospel is freedom. Easter is freedom. It is for freedom that he has set you free.

In his freedom, we not only experience the fullness of God and the fullness of life he promises, but we reflect his freedom to those who are not free. Henri Nouwen says that freedom attracts. He writes:

When you are interiorly free you call others to freedom, whether you know it or not. Freedom attracts wherever it appears.  A free man or a free woman creates a space where others feel safe and want to dwell. Our world is so full of conditions, demands, requirements, and obligations that we often wonder what is expected of us. But when we meet a truly free person, there are no expectations, only an invitation to reach into ourselves and discover there our own freedom. Where true inner freedom is, there is God. And where God is, there we want to be.

And that is where God wants us to be as well, because it is for freedom that he has set us free.

Peace, hope and love

Doug