My “Official Ballot” came in the mail yesterday. I was so happy to get it. Come November 6th, I won’t have to stand in line! Though, I will miss my “I voted” sticker, it’ll be good to do it in advance. One of my son’s “Official Ballot” came in the mail too. The thing is, I don’t know that he is going to vote for the same candidate that I am. In fact, I don’t think he is. So, I confess, a wicked thought went through my head. Rather than engaging with my son in meaningful and respectful discussion that may change one of our opinions, I could just not give it to him!
OK, I didn’t entertain the thought for long. The Holy Spirit isn’t much for lying, cheating or stealing and honestly neither am I. I don’t want to keep my son from participating in his first presidential election and enjoying one of the fabulous freedoms we possess in the United States. We have so many freedoms we are privileged to enjoy as citizens here but this is truly one of the great ones!
30 years ago, John and I attended a wonderful Bible based church in Sierra Madre, California. A young man also attended there who had an amazing spirit and an even more amazing testimony. He hadn’t grown up with the freedoms I take for granted. He was from Uganda. He had been in prison there because he was a Christian. He had been brutally tortured and had the scars to show for it.
His days were spent being beaten. During one of his trials there, he was chained to the ceiling - hung by his hands with his feet grazing the floor. His guard’s job was to whip him. Beatings lasted for hours. After a few days, this young man was aware of the guard cleaning up his “tools” preparing to leave…and he said to the guard, “Have a nice evening.”
Seriously. He blessed him. Have a nice evening. Which of these men was free? Truly free?
The guard was undone. He was angry. “How can you say that to me? How can you say that?” Our friend told him how. He told him about Jesus – about the price that Jesus paid to win his heart – about the freedom he knew in Christ. He told him about being LOVED and FORGIVEN and ACCEPTED and KNOWN perfectly. A few days later, that guard helped him to escape. But before he helped him leave the country, he first took him to his home to treat his wounds, feed him and have him share the Gospel with his family.
Have a nice evening?!?!?! This young man was free. The guard became free and so did his family. In Christ, we too are free.
We are no longer slaves. We have been freed. We are no longer in bondage to sin. We have been released. In Christ, we have the freedom to choose life, choose not to sin, choose good, choose to give our sons the mail in ballot thing. We are free to choose to believe God, to become who we were created to be, to not be afraid and to not be overwhelmed by anything or anyone.
Yes there is sorrow in our lives. But we will not be overcome by sorrow.
Christianity is not a promise of a life with no pain or even a short cut through it. It is a promise that pain, sorrow, sin – ours and others - will not swallow us, destroy us, overwhelm us, define us or have the final word.
Jesus has won our victory. He is the Final Word. We are free.
2 Cor 3:17 Now the Lord is a Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faced all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
We are being transformed. We are. God is doing it.
In our transformation we are free from:
Bondage
Sin
The fear of man
Shame
Regret
Rage
Disappointment
Addiction
Fear
We are no longer captives to sin. We are no longer in bondage to the enemy, to the world, or to our own flesh. We have been released. We are not only free FROM – we are free TO. We are free to be transformed into the very image of Christ! We are free to bless in the face of cursing, to love in the face of hatred. We are free to become the fullest expression of our unique selves. We are free to offer to others the unique gifting that God planted in us when he first dreamed of us. We are free to:
Be happy
To be glorious
To fail
To succeed
To love
To live
To forgive. Because of what Jesus has done, we are no longer bound by any chains. We have been ransomed, paid for, purchased, saved, and freed to be who we really are.
How do we increasingly live in freedom? By increasingly coming to know and embrace the boundless love of God for us. We grow into our freedom as we are captured by his goodness, his faithfulness, his honor, his sacrifice, his compelling nature, his heart that yearns for us. We can embrace the freedom that Jesus won for us simply and only because we are so completely, loved…right now. The truth is, we are safe and secure in the love of God every moment of our lives. No matter what.
The invitation of Jesus Christ is to come fully alive in his love - know him as he really is and offer both him and ourselves truly – freely to a hurting and thirsty world.
I want to do to that, don’t you?
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