pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: freedom


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Redemption 

Reading: Psalm 107: 1-9

Sometimes as Christians it can be easy to settle into a comfortable faith.  The further we get from that last big brush with grace, the less we remember what redemption feels like.  It is in those times that we really struggle and Christ sweeps in to our rescue that we feel the strongest expressions of grace and forgiveness and redemption.  Once we get past those times when struggles were common in our early walk of faith, we can slip into a sort of cruise control.  Then it can be easy to forget that others are still in a struggle.  We lose touch with what it feels like to be held captive to something.

There are many people that struggle in life.  The battle may be with things such as drugs and alcohol.  It may be pornography.  It may be abuse.  It may be due to forces such as injustice or oppression.  It may be cultural or economic.  When we ourselves forget what redemption and that taste of freedom was like, we can lose our drive to help others find freedom from whatever is holding them captive.

The true freedom we find in Christ is the only real freedom from all that binds and holds humanity captive.  In our struggles we may succeed in the battle for a short time when we fight it on our own.  But Satan always regains a foothold when we try to do it alone because in us there is weakness.  It is only when we call on the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ that can find redemption from all that binds us.  It is by His strength alone that we have a chance in this battle.  But all who do not know Christ cannot call on His name.

As faithful disciples of Jesus Christ it is our call and charge to make the good news known to all people.  It is our call to share Christ with who struggle with the powers of this world so that all may come to know the redeeming and freeing power of Christ.  Only in Christ is true freedom found.  May we share Jesus and His redeeming love this day with all who are held captive to sin so that Christ may set them free.


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Freedom

Reading: Luke 8: 26-39

Jesus frees the man from his demons but at a large cost to the community.  The man possessed by demons had lived outside of town for many years.  Everyone knew he was out there in the caves and they were okay with this arrangement.  Sometimes it is nice when trouble is far away.  For the man, he had lived for many years with a legion of demons inside him.  To be restored to wholeness must have been amazing for him.   No wonder he asked if he too could follow Jesus.

The restoration of the man troubled the people of the town.  The huge financial loss from the pigs drowning would greatly affect the social order of the community.  The people without income from the pigs would now need to be cared for by the community.  This would be a large burden to bear.  The man who was healed would also need to fit back into the community.  Change is hard.

Jesus also offers us freedom.  He offers to free us from all that entangles our lives and that keeps us from relationship with God.  For some it is a sin that they have long lived with.  It has become comfortable.  For others is it something now seen as sin as one matures in their faith.  They too can be somewhat comfortable with this sin.  We rationalize this because change is hard and it requires work.  It requires a social reordering of our lives.  It means modifying our behavior and learning a new way to live.  But like the demon-possessed man reveals, freedom brings great reward.  May we trust into the freedom that Jesus Christ offers, knowing that He wants the most for us.  May we give to Him all that He wants to take.


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Freed by Jesus

Reading: Acts 16: 16-34

Today’s text is one of liberation.  The slave girl is set free from the spirit that has possessed her for many years.  The jailer is set free from an oppressive system that has kept him boxed in.  For many of us and for many in the world, freedom is elusive as we are held captive to someone or something.

For some it is the situation they are in.  Addictions to drugs or alcohol control the lives of many people.  For many more, though, the addiction is less visible or it is harder to identify, but it is there, controlling their lives.  For some it is the addiction to power or being in control.  For some it is a secret addition to pornography or sex.  For some it is an addiction to beauty or popularity.  And for some it is their addiction to technology or the latest, greatest, best new whatever.  When our focus is on the things of the world or on ourselves, we can be controlled so easily.

So what or who can set us free?  It is the same thing that set the girl and the jailer free: the power of Jesus Christ.  Giving all of our concerns to Him sets us free.   Loving what Jesus loves and loving as Jesus loves us shifts our focus from what we want to what we can offer.  Finding our contentment in our relationship with Jesus means we do not feel the need for stuff or position or recognition.

May we yield all to Him so that in Him we may find the strength to live each day as a child of God, bearing witness to His light and love, to His joy and peace.


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Prepare the Way!

Zechariah’s prophecy about his son John continues today.  Often as a parent we can embellish stories about our children a bit.  But in this case it is not really Zechariah speaking.  He is filled by the Holy Spirit and it is really God speaking through him.  The words come from above.

John will be a messanger.  As with all messangers, he is sent before to prepare for another’s arrival.  He does not come to announce himself or to promote his own agenda, but to prepare the way for Jesus’ arrival and ministry.  John’s role is complimentary.

In Jesus and His life, God is about to offer up the saving act of salvation.  Through Jesus Christ, God is providing the means to reconcile us to God and to free us from captivity to and fear of sin and death.  John came to prepare the people for this mighty act of God.  In order to prepare the people, John preached in the desert about sin and offered a baptism of repentance.  He prepared the way for the coming Savior by making people aware of their sin and the need to repent of their sins.

As we walk through Advent, we too are called to prepare ourselves for the the coming of the King.  John’s message about seeing our sin and repenting is as applicable today as it was when he first preached it.  If we are to be ready to receive our Savior on Christmas Eve, we must look within and wrestle with our sins and temptations and work make ourselves ready.  May we see our sins, repent, and prepare for the coming of our Lord and Savior!

Scripture reference: Luke 1: 76-79


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True Light, Eternal Freedom

In Isaiah 9 we find a passage that bridges the time in which he was writing with the time when Jesus lived with our time today.It speaks of what was, what is, and what will be.  By virtue of its timelessness, it is perfect for today.

Throughout time people have craved for light to shine in the darkness, for evil to be overcome.  Isaiah’s words, “the people walking in darkness have seen a great light”, bring hope.  He writes about breaking the yoke of oppression, of ending the foreign dominance.  In Jesus’ day it was the Romans on one level and the religious leaders on another level.  Today the things that oppress us vary greatly – from the self-imposed to things out of our control.  Forever and always we will long for freedom.

Into the midst of the oppression and the longing for freedom from all that burdens us steps the Christ child.  Tonight we celebrate Jesus’ birth – the entrance of the True Light, the arrival of eternal freedom.  Embrace these truths as we gather tonight to welcome Him into the world and into our lives.

Isaiah 9: 2-7


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Offer Forgiveness, Find Freedom

Forgiveness can be a hard thing to offer.  We are not talking about the garden variety ‘sorry’ when we bump into someone in the hall but the kind that take some effort because the hurt was deep and it lingers still.

Peter asks Jesus if forgiving someone seven times is enough.  I think Peter thought it was more than forgiving someone a few times, so he thought was doing well.  But Jesus says ‘no Peter, forgive seventy-seven times’. (Or seventy times seven in some translations!)  Jesus is really telling Peter to just keep forgiving – forever.  That’s hard.  But a lot of Jesus’ truths are hard.  It takes effort and commitment to follow Jesus and to seek to live as He lived.

So often when we choose not to forgive – and make no mistake, it is a choice – the one we are hurting most is ourself.  Frequently the offender has moved on or does not even know the hurt they caused was so deep, yet we can fixate and dwell on the event and the hurt caused.  We can even allow it to consume us.  This is not healthy nor is it following Jesus’ directive.

By choosing to forgive, we first acknowledge in our heart the need for healing and restoration.  As we offer it to the other, our healing is made complete.  We are set free for that which bound us and we return to living as a whole, healthy child of God.

Scripture reference: Matthew 18: 21-22