How it Feels to be FREE

by Sandra Allen Lovelace @SandraALovelace #WallflowerWomen

Does life close in on you? Do responsibilities swamp your thoughts?
Have you forgotten or wondered what it feels like to be FREE?
It’s the way God wants us to live, but if we can’t recognize it how do we find it?

Join my friend on her discovery.

Day 1
Pam was already dressed and out the door before the 15-degree air slapped her face. Too late to turn back. Thoughts of how the exercise would drive fresh blood to her brain and warm her up urged her forward. She drew her head down into the turned-up collar of her puffy jacket, and picked up her pace. The cold air bit her ears.

By the end of the two-mile route, her fingers and toes were tingling. Her entire body was tight and stiff, bringing to mind the statues in the White Witch’s courtyard from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. Numbness nearly paralyzed her lips as she mumbled a well-known line, “Always winter, but never Christmas.”

Day 2
Pam was no slouch. A scarf snugged her chin. Lined mittens shielded her hands. But a 30-degree breeze met her built-up tension. She stretched out her stride and cocked her head to relieve the tightness in her neck. Her shadow bounced over the sunlit trees beside her and her shoulders dropped.

At the last turn, her scarf hung loose and her body flowed in a comfortable rhythm. Her legs suggested she could easily do 10 miles . . . with hills. Images popped into her mind of the melting snow when Aslan defeated the White Witch, and revived the stone statues with his breath. Surely this is how they felt when he set them FREE.

Aslan is Lewis’ hero in his famous and effective analogy of the redemptive work of Jesus.
But it’s the Truth of Christ’s perfect life and resurrection from the dead that literally sets us FREE.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me FREE from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2).* [emphases mine throughout]

So if the Son sets you FREE, you will be FREE indeed (John 8:36).

You, my brothers, were called to be FREE. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love (Galatians 5:13).

It is for freedom that Christ has set us FREE. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1).

When was the last time you walked in freedom?
God calls us to walk FREE in Christ every day.

Joyfully triumphant,

Sandra

*NIV1984, unless otherwise noted