“For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!” Galatians 5:13-15
No matter what platform your news comes from, does it astonish you that we have so much national freedom, yet are more dissatisfied and have crazy levels of anxiety? People are so stressed-out that even the most trivial matters send them into a tailspin.
The fact is, no matter what your political situation is, if you are in Christ, your liberty is not determined by politicians or dictators. It is not determined by how many resources you have. In fact, sometimes resources enslave us. Just look around! Humanity collectively has more resources than in the entire history of the world, but yet seem more plagued by anxiety, anger, and dissatisfaction—than ever. It is evident on nearly all of our platforms of influence—schools, government, families, businesses, and—even some churches. Many of these organizations have become predominately hospitals and babysitters instead of places which produce mature, productive, satisfied servants of Christ.
What is the problem???
Well, in a nutshell, we have a culture which has made “man” instead of God—the center of existence.
Without God as our center, we become desperate. We are like ravenous wolves who never have enough food. When we are the center of our existence, we starve our soul for the one thing it needs more than anything else: A deep and satisfying relationship with God. When we use our great freedom to feed our fleshly desires we become desperate.
We are workaholics so we can be shopaholics; yet…
..we never have enough.
We never let our minds be still and know God; so…
…we rarely have peace.
We are slaves of the social media crowd and the “likes” on our life events are…
…never enough.
When God is our center, we have space and energy to love others. To find the freedom we long for, we must get off this crazy self-seeking merry-go-round life!
We were created to experience REAL Love—God’s love. God’s love is a love that is always looking for opportunities to GIVE—not TAKE. The opposite of real love is not “hate”—it’s selfishness. Selfishness and self-centeredness enslave us in the lie that our life will be better. It makes us needy. But “selfLESSness” which means we think of ourselves less, allows us to be filled with God’s goodness. God gives us more than we can give away. Selflessness is only possible when we have something better than ourselves to live for.
God is ALWAYS better to us than we are to ourselves.
To experience the goodness of His presence, Jesus must be at the center of our life. In the Beatitudes, Jesus gave us the recipe for developing a close relationship with Him. As we feed our soul with His satisfying presence, HE gives us the satisfaction we need. God’s love for us is so vastly unselfish that we can barely comprehend it!
“For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:7-8
When we are born again, we are given eternal liberty from the enslavement of sin, which is selfishness. But we only learn to live in that liberty when we live in love. Love is learning to give without an expectation of receiving. It’s what God does. It’s who He is. When we are filled with Him, He enables us to love like He does. We are not anxious. We are not angry. We don’t have to retaliate. God’s love—makes our love—less about us and ALL about Him. It gives us true liberty.
“Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.” 2 Corinthians 13:11
2 Responses
Yes in this busy world, we are too focused on, money, bills, what we have and don’t have. Yes I worked hard all my life. Where did it get me? A great time with my husband, and thanking God. I need to go back to that easier time. Just be greatful, and Trust in the Lord. He has provided for 78 years. I shall continue to believe in him alone.
He is so faithful!