Freedom: The Misconception!

For some of you this is just a reminder, for others it may be a wake up call.

Free from misconceptions
Free from substance injections
Free from the sinful lifestyle that provoked God's rejection
Free from hangovers
Free from investing in the club scene
with no return in my life
Free from searching the parties for my wife
Free from fake conversations that attempt to boost my ego
Cause I'm free from the insecurities that boost my evil
Free from selfish ambitions desires and agendas
Free from the American dream...free to live the dream
Free to dream...Free to be in Him

Let Freedom ring! From "My Country 'Tis of Thee" to Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech we've heard these words recited often. What do they really mean? Especially to a follower of Jesus Christ. In America we have the "freedom" to do many things and when that freedom is infringed upon we protest loudly and arrogantly. No one can take away our freedom to say and do whatever we so choose. I just got back from Poland and ministered to a group of youth and young adults that also know freedom. This is really the first generation born in the free country of Poland. Just over 20 years ago Poland was still under communist control. So freedom is still fairly new to them. It is still a country in recovery from the communist regime that controlled them so many years following Hitler. But how well do they really understand freedom? How well do we really understand freedom here in America, the land of the free?

Freedom as we know it, and as I stated earlier, is the ability to do whatever we choose. This is irregardless of morality and whether or not it brings harm to another or ourselves. It has become an idol in America. Oops, did I say that. How dare I speak anything other than reverence for our country's freedom that many have died or risked their lives to protect (including family of mine by the way). But is this the ultimate freedom that we should be raving about? Don't get me wrong, I love that we are a free country, not under the strong, unfair arm of control of another, but let's really understand the freedom that we have and how to use it to truly impact humanity. Let's reverence the one who died for that freedom as well.

First of all God gave Adam and Eve the freewill to love him back. So freedom is not about our ability to do whatever we want, but that we love God back from a willing heart and from a place of coercion. Now we get into the connection of freedom and love. Since true love is one that loves freely and is not forced to. God's picture of freedom had to do with loving Him. John 8:36 says "who the Son sets free is free indeed." The freedom the Bible is speaking of is the freedom to not have to live in sin and separated from the Father anymore. He wants us to take advantage of the freedom we have to love him separated from a lifestyle of sin.

See the freedom we celebrate is often times the freedom to sin however we choose. We celebrate the freedom to gossip publicly, to protest morality, to have sex when and with whomever we choose. Now the freedom to marry whoever we want is celebrated with no regard to God's design. On that last example, I really don't expect someone who is not submitted to the Lord to see anything wrong with same-sex marriage, neither am I concerned about offending anyone with the truth (just wanted to clear that up). We celebrate the freedom to erase the line of morality as if none exists and we make up our own lines. What we don't understand is what we celebrate we endorse and we give permission to the next generation to take and run with. This isn't always a good thing if you are a believer.

I recently wrote down a list of things that I am free from that others are enslaved to, but feel they do them because they are free to. I am free from cigarettes, lifestyle of sexual sin, alcohol and hangovers, misconceptions that lead me to chase material wealth, drugs, road rage, the list goes on. However we celebrate and encourage many to engage in these things simply because they have the freedom to do so. Then we make reality shows out of them. I know people with this so-called freedom that they can't stop doing many of these things, even though it brings nothing but hardship and detriment to their lives.

And that's the freedom we celebrate.

Listen to what the Bible says about freedom. This is and should be a primary focus of the freedom we truly celebrate as believers. In Galatians 5:13 it says "for you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." Why would Paul write this? Because love does no harm to another (Romans 13:10), and loving others is loving God. Our priority with our freedom should be that we are free from the selfish ways and desires that are encouraged between the intimacy of our flesh (passions, cravings, and appetites) and the world (which caters to them daily), so that we might love others by serving them. Love is the preeminent characteristic of God. Serving is a selfless act. That's what freedom is about.

We have bought into this lie for so long that we even take God's grace as being synonymous with the very freedom we have perverted. We think it's freedom times 10, as if God gives us permission to engage since He already saved us because Jesus already died for our sins. The point of the cross is that we are free to love God and love others...serve God and serve others. Even many churches afraid to offend anyone have signed off on this false freedom that many have embraced. Polluting the name of God and misrepresenting what love really is. Love won't ever sign off on sin. Because sin will kill you. If some part of the church is signing off on some sin then that may explain why many other parts of the church are choosing their own sin to sign off on. Now we are a church (bride of Christ) filthy with the sin that no one wants to talk about. As long as we have great music and people are getting baptized we're cool.

And we wonder why there is no power flowing through the body of believers? I wish someone else would ask me if God still does miracles? I'm not perfect, not by a long shot. I don't know anyone who is. But exercising freedom has to be associated with giving of yourself for the sake of the gospel and not giving of yourself for the sake of celebrating a freedom to sin.

Can You See ME Now?

Have you ever looked at the word of God as a mirror? The mirror? If you have then that's a good thing. But my next question is who do you see? Do you see yourself in this word at all? Is God showing you who you are? Is your life a true reflection of the mirror? If you are looking for "you" in that mirror and you see you, then you aren't seeing who God wants you to see in His mirror.

In John 5:39, Jesus says that the scriptures "testify" of Him. The true image/reflection in the mirror of God's word that we should be hoping to see is the image of Jesus. After all, the Bible says in Galatians 2:20, "it is no longer I who lives but Christ who dwells in me." However, we live in a culture that promotes the "kingdom of ME." Everything is about ME. This worldly attitude is so common that we don't even question it at all. It's supposed to be about ME. So common that it has infiltrated and influenced the church. The way we approach most things even here is about ME. The worship music has to fit MY style. The preaching style has to get my approval, no matter the truth that's actually being taught. The time, no matter how short or efficient it really is, has to fit MY schedule. Even leaders in the church are more focused on their ministry than the ministry that God wants to do through them. Ministry is a career choice and people are looking for promotions. So naturally with this mindset I am going to look in the mirror of God's word and search for ME.

When we read a biography about a famous person we get excited because we are getting a chance to know someone we otherwise would never have met. We don't read the book just for entertainment value or to compare ourselves to them, our lives to theirs. We read simply to get a peek into this person's life and learn about who they are. The point I'm trying to make here is that we are supposed to dive into God's word searching for Jesus. The point of the word is to bring us into relationship with the Creator since it is His self-revelation. He has spoken His truth about His Son, who is the physical image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), and He desires that we know Him. When we know Him, we know God. But I'll never know God if I look for ME in the scriptures. Sure we are to find out how the word practically applies to our lives, and we are see how we measure up to the word daily, but that's not the end goal. The end goal is to know Jesus. To know Him relationally. To have intimate unique knowledge of who Jesus really is. That is eternal life (John 17:3). That is what's transforming.

I get so frustrated when people say the Bible is a "book of instructions on how to do life." Yes, it instructs us for a purpose as 2 Timothy 3:16, 17 says, but it is more than that. It is life itself. Jesus is life. When a person searches the scriptures for the sole purpose of knowing Jesus, not just to know a verse to quote and flaunt in people's faces, they have access to transformation. When I respond to the person that I now know more intimately in Jesus Christ, I give room for transformation to happen. The more I know Him, the more I respond, the more I am transformed. Too many people are trying to respond to just the words and do the thing it says. We are to respond to who Jesus is. Just like we respond when we fall in love with someone, or when we meet a celebrity that we like and we act with such awe and admiration.

As I respond to Jesus from knowing Him in His word, then Galatians 2:20 comes into play. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who dwells in me. So now the other part of looking in this mirror is that I do not see me. I don't look for me (I look for Jesus) in the word, and I don't see me (I should see Jesus) in my life. If I see Jesus, I am more secure in who I am in Christ (Philippians 4:13). If I see Jesus, I don't fear (Luke 9:1, 2 Timothy 1:7). If I see Jesus, I have died to myself and I don't live for me any longer. If I see Jesus, I am living for holiness (Hebrews 12:14). If I see Jesus, I don't want to compromise. If I see Jesus, then I see the work that God has done in my life. If I recognize God's work then I will praise Him according to my heart of gratitude and not the style of music of being played at church, or anything else that satisfies ME. If I see Jesus and respond to His work in my life, then I am available for transformation now and not on my own terms. All because I see Jesus in the mirror and not ME.

God is asking us every time we get in front of the mirror, "can you see ME now?" Do you see Jesus in the scriptures when you approach the word? Do others see Jesus when they see you? Behind closed doors is it Jesus or you? Who's asking the question "can you see ME now? You or God?

Soul-d Out

What is your life about? What drives you? What or who matters most to you? We answer these questions everyday in the decisions we make. What we pursue or neglect speaks volumes as to what matters most. We can't hide the evidence. The next question is, does what we pursue impact our life alone or does the impact have residuals that can spread to the lives of others? The culture that we live in promotes the acquisition of "stuff"; money, homes, esteem, praise, or glory. The word says to "deny yourself," (Luke 9:23) "lose your life,"(Luke 9:24) and "it's no longer I who lives, but Christ who dwells in me."(Galatians 2:20). So the culture outside of true Christianity contradicts the world that markets toward our feelings, egos, and desires.

In Philippians 2:3 the Bible says to do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit...think of one another as more important than yourselves. So between dying to self, and thinking about the next believer as more important, there is no room at all for the selfish pursuit of the "American Dream" (the house, the bank account, the esteem, the comfort). Don't get me wrong, I am not demonizing everything about the "American Dream," just most of it, and the selfish intentions it invokes in us. Usually this attitude is not detected until after we have pursued and obtained much of the stuff we desire, or when we have exhausted ourselves in the chase. The carnage left behind isn't pretty at all. Included in the carnage is the people we come in contact with...their hearts, their emotions, and maybe even their souls.

I am writing this primarily to believers who are accountable to the word of God that maybe when they read this it will be a stop sign or yield sign to slow down the superficial pursuit. But also to non-believers who are chasing what can not satisfy them. Life is not supposed to be about my career, my wealth, my popularity, and not always about my ministry. Life for a believer is about honoring God and what pleases him most is the soul of another person being preserved by coming into relationship with Jesus Christ just like yours. James 5:20 is what life is about here on this earth.

Is your life "soul-d out?" Or is it a life that trades off equally between ministry to others and appeasing selfish desires. Well the latter cancels out the former every time because selfishness is a trait that dishonors God. It's no different than doing good deeds by day and sinning by night. A "soul-d out" life is one that cares about influencing and impact others for the sake of the kingdom. Nothing else matters to the a person who is "soul-d out." Ministry has long been perverted for personal gain and notoriety. Many people are prostituting God, the Gospel, the teachings and promises of Jesus. Not just for money, but for the image, the esteem of being called an "awesome man/woman of God." The "soul-d out" life is content(Philippians 4:11), a "soul-d out" life is introspective about his own will and intentions (Luke 22:42), a "soul-d out" life sees through the eyes of the word, the Spirit of God, the character of Jesus, a "soul-d out" life lives to serve and not to be served as Jesus did (Mark 10:45).

How often do we as believers take time off from a "soul-d out" life? How serious do we take God's word? I will never be preoccupied with the souls of people while I'm more attracted to what satisfies my appetite. A "soul-d out" life makes decisions and lives a life driven to introduce people to Jesus. A "soul-d out" life is sold out to God proclaiming the Gospel in front of people and behind closed doors when no one's watching but God. A "soul-d out" life confronts his/her intentions. The next acquisition you pursue, what are your intentions? Are you "soul-d out?"