The Freedoms Only Christ Can Offer
"'SO IF THE SON SETS YOU FREE, YOU WILL BE FREE INDEED.'" [JOHN 8:36]
Every time the 4th of July rolls around, I meditate on freedom, rights, oppression, and everything in between. I confess that I always feel convicted about the way I take my liberty in America for granted. I think about how so many of us live such entitled lives here in the Western world. We cling to our rights with hearts of entitlement rather than humility. We stick to our freedoms selfishly rather than responsibly. We not only abuse our privilege on a political or patriotic level, but we do the same with our spiritual freedom.
Entitled, proud, selfish. This isn't the way the Bible describes exercising freedom. In reality, the freedom that comes from the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ was costly. Jesus Christ graciously paid for your freedom and mine, and that freedom carries responsibility. Peter Marshall says this: "May we think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right."
More importantly, Romans 6 outlines freedom like this:
"What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
"For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness."
(Romans 6:1-4; 14-18 ESV)
As daughters of the King, we cannot take our position as an entitled right to take advantage of God's graciousness. As daughters of the King, we cannot diminish the magnitude of the price that Jesus Christ paid for our freedom. As daughters of the King, we do not cheapen His grace and use it as a license to sin. No! We take our position and freedom as daughters of the King to live in a way that reflects His beauty and grace. We joyfully live under the loving boundaries He has placed around us. That means we faithfully obey His way for life – not begrudgingly but gladly. That means we view His design as the perfect and loving protection of a Father who knows us best.
The freedom He offers is the truest kind of freedom. The freedom offered in Christ is not restrictive but refreshing. The freedom offered in Christ is not burdensome but beautiful. The freedom offered in Christ is not threatening but empowering.
I'm praying that we would stop demanding our rights or forcing our will but would meekly submit to God's goodness. I'm praying that the Holy Spirit will keep each one of our hearts sensitive to the magnitude of our freedom and give us the humility that should overflow from realizing the rights we now possess as children of God.
Let's follow the example of Jesus outlined in Philippians 2:6-11. It says:
"Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.:
Jesus, the only One who genuinely carried the authority to cling to His rights, was willing to lay them down for you and me. If He was ready to lay down His rights, don't you think we should be willing to do the same? I pray that we will have the attitude of Christ Jesus, who did not cling to His rights as God but humbled himself to death, even death on the cross.
Spirit, give us hearts like Jesus. Make us people who do not cling to our rights in entitlement, but daughters who freely lay down our lives to experience the true freedom offered through Jesus Christ.
Tricia Patterson is the author of Cultivating a Life of Joy, The Unwasted Life, and the Fan Into Flames journal series. She is also the host of The Truth at Home Podcast. Tricia's resources are designed to lead women into the presence of God, as their roots grow down deeper into the soil of God's marvelous love. Tricia graduated from Baylor University Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication in May of 2010. She earned a Master of Arts degree in Christian Education with a concentration in Family Ministry from Dallas Baptist University in December of 2012. Tricia has a passion for leading women of all ages into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. At home, she is a wife to Sam and Mom to their two daughters, Joy and Ellie. Connect with Tricia Patterson on Instagram, her personal Facebook page, ministry Facebook page, and Twitter!