If you met the love of your life, would you exploit the relationship for as long as it was good, and then drop that person as soon as the relationship infringed on your freedom? After all, “you just gotta do you,” is a popular mantra in our culture, and it places the highest value on autonomy and personal “freedom.” But does our precious autonomy really give us absolute freedom and—is it more important than love? Well, it likely depends what kind of “love” you are looking for. If you are only willing to give conditional or convenient “love” then it shouldn’t be surprising if you attract someone like you. You may find yourself hopping from lover to lover and never have the kind of REAL love that God created you to experience.
Convenient “love” is not the kind of love Jesus offers us.
God’s love is completely selfless. It is everlasting. It does not change because—HE does not change. What is God’s love? Well, the opposite of God’s love is “selfishness,” which, according to Jesus, is sin and it—enslaves us!
Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”
John 8:34-36
But remarkably, God IS love AND He gives us true freedom!
Freedom is not doing anything you want. Freedom is learning to live within your design. A bird is free—when it flies in the sky—not when it decides to live 50 feet under the water. God’s nature is love and we were created in His image. Thus, we were created to live in HIS love—which is selfLESSness. Just look at the 10 commandments—they are all about living selflessly. We are told to love God most; and love others like Jesus loved us. The more we begin to love like God does, the greater we experience freedom!
Yes, it’s work!
But God works. And He created us to work. When we learn to make love by loving the way God loves; we are set free from the chains of selfishness. We experience the divine satisfaction of both LOVE and FREEDOM.
“The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.”
Isaiah 58:11
That one special person, dream job, a pile of money, or a fabulous family—will never satisfy us—we’re just shuffling between masters who will never love us the way we were designed to be loved. True freedom AND love is found in Christ alone. When we accept His gift of salvation, we are appropriating His payment for our freedom. He paid for our sin so we could be free. When God is our greatest desire we trade selfishness for selflessness.
In Christ, we have all we need—including the absolute freedom to love and to be loved.
We would love to hear your thoughts about this devotional. Did God speak to you or challenge your daily walk with him? Or is there a topic that you would like Kimberly to cover or expound on? Please share with us in the comments below.
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4 Responses
Kim, I enjoy reading your devotions. They are very inspiring. Thank you for doing this.
Good morning. Have a great day
True words . God created us in his image not our own.
Yes, love, by it’s true expression, is selfless and yes again, true freedom is found in finding and following the divine purpose we were created for..and it involves work and dedication. All we can do is make the decision and have faith in God’s provision to successfully carry out said purpose and even faith is given as on our own, we are incapable of sustaining real faith, particularly in troubled times.