This Thing We Call Liberty
Digesting Liberty
If your childhood was as revealing as mine was, it did not take you long for you to realize that slavery was not soley an antiquated travesty that occurred within the loathed tropes of the past. No, most likely you grew to understand that the world is overrunning with people, places and things that work both consciously and unconsciously to entangle people with bondage, stripping them of their God given liberties.
True liberty only exists in Christ Jesus. The best definition of liberty starts with clarifying what liberty is not. Liberty is not the freedom to do whatever you want to do. This description is a dangerous misnomer. Liberty could never "be real" as the mere unproductive attempt at sovereignty and self-governance that we all try our hand at, when struggling like crazy to free ourselves from the wastelands of sin that we sometimes find ourselves waddling hopelessly in.
Real liberty is the freedom to do what God created you to do. It is pure unadulterated autonomy. Its taste is sweeter than the sweetest honey. Its refreshment is more invigorating than the coolest drink of water. Living in liberty is soaring elevated above life's highest mountains without the impediment of tiring weight, working to pull you downward. Liberty is the opportunity to live boldly in the presence of your maker and Lord unashamed and without wondering if He loves and accepts you just as He has created you. Liberty does not give you the freedom to misuse yourself and others. Genuine liberty gives you the power to wage war against your sure destruction along with the destruction of others. Liberty is not just about escaping addiction, adultery, drunkenness, bitterness, promiscuity, and so many of the other traps that can lead a woman or man down a road of shame, disgrace and destruction. Our Christ given opportunity to live complete and courageous lives that are unencumbered by yokes like people pleasing, insecurity, anxiety, fear, pride, jealousy, condemnation, greed and depression also characterize our liberty in Christ. If you have never experienced the liberty that Jesus has made available to us, I encourage you to! O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him, says the Bible in Psalm 34:8.
I am Liberated Lin, a woman who was liberated from the domination of sin and the hopelessness that it guaranteed me. I am Liberated Lin, a daughter, woman, wife, mother, student, teacher, writer and evangelist, who has been made free by Jesus. I have made up my mind and determined in my heart that I will not go back into bondage.
Have you?
The Bible says in Romans 10:9 and 13, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." To be saved from the yoke of bondage and made free to live in liberty is the beginning of a life of freedom.
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Galatians 5:1