Freedom in Christ

Freedom! We all want it. Many have given their lives for it. It was the mantra of my generation. The problem is that freedom from God is slavery.

The fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is life independent from God. Left on our own we become slaves to our own pride.

The results are all of the troubles that face humanity. Jesus came to free us from ourselves. The “narrow way” of Jesus is self-surrender to his way of life.

His way of life begins with a cross. It is putting to death our own way and finding a new way of living. The resurrection becomes a reality of a new way of living.

It is connecting to a new source of life that is truly free. That life is life in God’s kingdom. Discipleship is learning to live every day in the kingdom of God.

Every day is a day of surrender to my own control and giving space to God’s new life in Jesus.

The “work” that I must do to enter into this new life of freedom connects me to the “work” that I cannot do. That work is done by the new power in me.

That new power is the power of the Spirit. The Spirit is released through me so that Jesus can live my life as if he were me.

Rest, silence, solitude, meditating on God’s Word, prayer, community, worship, hospitality and service are the disciplines of my work so that God can do the work that I cannot do!

The result is freedom! Real freedom to live each day as God’s gift. My life is not an “hour glass” seeping away, but each moment is an added grain of sand that will never run out!

 Pastor Fred