It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Galations 5:1

I love looking up definitions to the words and understanding what they mean. Here, Jesus has set us free; He set us at Liberty from the dominion of sin and death.

The freedom He has bought for us is defined on the Olive Tree App in Strong’s: “true liberty is living as we should, not as we please.”

I don’t know about you, but in my flesh, that does not look like freedom to me….at all! That feels more like oppression, but that is what the enemy wants us to feel and think.

Jesus came here on earth, and even He wrestled with God in prayer about going to the Cross.

Then Jesus *came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and *said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. Then He *said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.”
And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” Matthew 26:36-39

Our freedom came when Jesus lived as He should, not as His flesh and man part would have wanted Him to. But, in His obedience to what God had called Him to do, did He bring freedom to us, in turn, to give us that same freedom in life?

I don’t know about you, but I have had some wrestling matches with God in prayer.

I also remember when I decided to do what I wanted to do or ran from things I didn’t want to do, and the results and consequences have not been good. NO freedom came from those decisions at all, except what God used to bring me to where He wanted me to be.

For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Galations 5:13

We sometimes have a very worldly definition of what freedom means. We think it means we should be able to do whatever we want, however, whenever we want, but that is not true freedom. Sometimes we don’t live free because we don’t fully understand what it means, and we don’t understand how to live that way.

Our minds and hearts have to be renewed. It is the same way about love. I wrote a series on that earlier this year. Our world definitions and understanding often skew our understanding of these words.

How does this definition of freedom, change how you look at your life?

Jesus lived out His freedom by loving and serving His Father in obedience. Through that act of obedience, He brought freedom to us.

How will we live in this freedom in our lives today and in the days ahead?

I have not done this well sometimes, but the more I grow close to Jesus, the more I want to, and I pray that we will continue to grow close to Him and allow Him to help us live in this precious freedom we have in Jesus. It is amazing and overwhelming what we have been given in Him. My friend Bob was an incredible and steadfast example of this to me, and now He is enjoying complete freedom in Christ. I can hear him spurring me on to keep drawing close to Jesus, putting my eyes on Him, and living in His strength and power.

Let’s do this together. Let’s encourage each other to be obedient, even when it is hard, and we don’t want to, but because it is what God is calling us to, may we walk forward together, knowing we are not alone on this journey. One day, we will all experience that complete freedom in Christ. I look forward to that day, but until then, I will keep taking one step at a time towards Him.