Why are Christians so worried about actually being free? This is one of the strangest things I’ve ever pondered. We seem determined to live bound… by religious rules, by behavior modification…instead of by the freedom of the Spirit.
I remember getting saved and freed from my sinful prodigal lifestyle. I was so full of joy and felt such freedom. But then I went to “church” and set out on this absurd pilgrimage to “behave” like a Christian. In no time at all, I was no longer free. I was now bound up in religion–no joy, critical, suspicious and judgmental. I was now living like the elder brother! That is strange indeed.
Here’s what Wendell McGowan said about this strange phenomenon (“Firewalker: Living in the Third Heaven“)…
“The truth today is that the Church still argues over law and grace…Living under the law is like living in a jail cell. If you stay there long enough, you begin to adapt to the bars of punishment that insist that you abide under the rules. Grace opens the bar doors! Once the doors have been opened, this is where many people get stuck. They are so accustomed to rules, that to have freedom is too unfamiliar, and they run back looking for a false sense of security found in the law. Now, if we stay in grace long enough for it to penetrate our hearts, the love of God will be released.”
I’ve found that whenever the subject of freedom from the Law comes up, insecure people freak out and say things like, “If we don’t have rules, people will just do whatever they want!” You can’t have that, right?
I understand the concern, but it’s a reaction based in fear and not love. It’s also based in our need to control, which is based in our distrust. We don’t trust the Holy Spirit in other people to be…well, the Holy Spirit in their lives.
And I’m NOT suggesting having freedom to sin. In fact, I am suggesting that the only power we actually have to live a godly life is by His empowering grace (Titus 2:11-12), exercised by faith working through love (Gal.5:6). You only need rules and control when you don’t have this. And that’s still not living like a biblical Christian; that’s living like a religious orphan.
We’re a lot like the “foolish Galatians” (Gal.3:1-3). We seem to know how to get freedom, but we don’t seem to understand how to live in freedom. Because living in freedom requires abiding in His love (Jn.15:1-12). And we’re more comfortable living within the confines of rules…like a cage, separated from the Father like orphans…apparently, afraid of embracing this unconditional love that removes all torment and bondage (1 Jn.4:18).
The irony is astounding. We’ll do everything in our power to keep from getting what we really want!
Again, it’s because we just don’t trust. We would rather stay in control of our behavior. Better yet, focus on making everyone else behave! We seem to think it’s our moral obligation. After all, if we’re not going to live in freedom, we’re certainly not going to let anyone live in it!
This is why getting saved so you can escape hell is a horrible way to enter into a relationship. That’s like a man demanding that his wife love him or else he will torture and kill her. Does that sound like a healthy relationship to you? But this is how Christians come to God everyday. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so pathetically sad.
Furthermore, if you’re trying to go to a place (heaven) to escape a place (hell), then you really don’t care who’s there. The whole point is escaping punishment rather than becoming His.
So, since we insist on living apart from God’s outrageous love and empowering Spirit, we are left with the powerless, lifeless, stainless steel religion of rules. That’s not freedom.
Is the absolute absurdity of this fruitless and frustrating and joyless endeavor getting through to you yet?
But the “good news that brings great joy” is that this is not the Christianity of the New Testament! In fact, Paul called that “another gospel” (Gal.1:6-9). Jesus is the only way to a Person, not a place (Jn.14:6). And He came to introduce us to a Father, who is love–to live exactly like He did, as a “son” in His Father’s presence, which means fullness of joy and freedom.
Obedience is the result of love, not a pre-requisite (Jn.14:21).
But our legalistic, orphan minds have twisted this around, turning it into some elusive standard of performance that locks us in our fear and self-condemning insecurities.
But you cannot have love without freedom. So, beloved of God, it was for this freedom that Christ set you free (Gal.5:1). And free people don’t live like slaves who must obey or else. They “obey” like lovers who would do anything to please the other, the object of their greatest affection.
It’s time we were okay with freedom.
In My Father's House 
I don’t know if I can express how much I love this message. This is the gospel of Jesus. This is the Good News. This is the Holy Spirit in us. It is not religion or the “shoulds” of finger-pointing. It is Truth and Love and real, honest to capital “F” Freedom that Jesus lived, died, rose again, and brought us back to God for. Thank you.
Amen. And, yes, it’s amazing how much we have followed a “foolish Galatian” gospel. Not what Jesus lived out before us or what Paul taught. This is why people don’t really like Christian religion; they don’t like bondage. But the real good news brings real freedom! That’s biblical Christianity that’s compelling. Thanks for your encouraging comments. Always appreciated. Blessings.
Very true, I don’t think I understood this until my rules didn’t work for me any-more. It was only when I started to believe in God’s true love & developed a relationship with Him that this made sense. I think many of us (inc me) struggle with intimacy with God because it comes @ a cost – the surrender of our fleshly will to God’s will.
Yes, that’s so true. But the cost of surrender of our will is about coming to grips with our unbelief. For we always gladly do what’s in our best interest. So, the honest truth is, we don’t believe it’s worth it. Because if we actually believed God’s intentions for us, we would gladly surrender everything. But our life experience has taught us otherwise, and we’ve built such hardened walls around us from our human relationships, our disappointments and fears, that we automatically project those expectations onto our relationship with God. So it takes time for Him to remove those layers, lies we believe, so we can begin to trust and be totally open and intimate with Him. Surrender comes with trust and it must start with faith.
As always, thanks for your insightful comments.
Yes it does require trust n faith. Jesus is our ultimate example of this when he prayed in garden of Gethsemane. Jesus struggled with what He had to do on cross, but He had faith in God and He trusted in His love, so much so that He surrendered His will.
Amen. Great point. Actually believing that He has our best interest in mind is what makes us gladly surrender all to Him. Jesus is our example of trust and faith.
Thx this little chat has really spoken to me.
🙂
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What a powerful message. I think we come into the Kingdom and still have the lens on of our earthly father with a big stick waiting for us to trip up. The Church reinforces that posture of God for us and we buy into it. If we try to believe something else called ‘ The Truth’, we are treated like rebellious heretics. So I guess most people just come under the status quo. I love this perspective because it’s the WORD! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks. Yes, that’s true about the lens we come to God with. We make God in our image by default and generally don’t understand love that has no conditions. It really must be revealed to us by the Holy Spirit because we have no grid for it in our human experience.
As far as “rebellious heretics” go, we often find that anything that challenges our traditional religious paradigm (even if it’s the popular evangelical view) no matter how absurdly unbiblical it may be, will at least at first be thought heretical. Martin Luther was considered a heretic in his day. Actually, so was Jesus. This is why we have to remain open and teachable.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts here. Great insights. Much appreciated.