Freedom to Do Whatever We Want?

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Happy Wednesday, Everyone. 😊 I honestly thought we were done talking about Freedom after last week, but God had other plans. Happens a lot, huh? 😊 

While I was pondering what God meant by providing this passage, I was told about and experienced multiple instances where this Freedom may be misused. It breaks my heart, but I also know that we all do it. 

Lots of thoughts are tumbling around my heart right now. I do think we have a tendency to take God’s Grace for granted. I had a colleague when I was teaching middle school who made a comment that has stuck with me these many years – “You Christians are all alike. You think you can do anything you want because you’re going to be forgiven so it doesn’t make any difference.” That stopped me in my tracks. I tried to explain that we are to live our lives treating other people well, not thinking we can do anything we want because of God’s forgiveness. But his experience taught him otherwise.

It is hard for others to see the Love of Jesus in us when we aren’t even doing a good job of loving each other as Christians. When we have conflict while trying to accomplish a common goal. When we have conflict with family members. When we don’t honor boundaries about what we say and do to others. When we can’t accept Christians who have a bit different doctrine than we do. All of these tell the world that we take God’s Grace for granted because no matter what we do, we will be forgiven.

But that’s not what Jesus taught. He taught us not only to love others as we love ourselves. He took it up a notch and told us to love others as He has loved us. That’s sacrificial Love and that’s the kind of love the Freedom that we have in Jesus allows us to show to others.

We aren’t only to show this Love to people we agree with or who look like us or have the same political beliefs we do or who belong to the same Christian denomination we do. We are to Love EVERYONE – just like Jesus does. He showed a Love that was so deep and wide that He died for the sins of the entire world. And that is what He calls us to …

If we want to experience true Freedom in Christ, we will Love like He does. We will treat others with the respect and consideration due them as children of God. The more we love like Jesus, the more we experience the Freedom that He bought for us on the Cross – and the more love we have to give – it’s a beautiful cycle. And one that I pray we all experience as we move through our lives.

God knows we aren’t perfect. But He does want us to take His Son as an example of how we use the Freedom we have in Him – Freedom to love extravagantly and with abandon all that He has created.

Blessings and Love, 😊 Ceri