How To Live Free
They crackled and fizzed, light piercing darkness. Fortuitously, we discovered my neighbor puts on his own fireworks show each year for gawking family and friends, rivaling any I’ve seen elsewhere. We stared in awe with giggles of delight, my heart filled with childish joy and aged gratitude at the sacrifice making it possible.
As I sat with sweet friends remarking on the bursting colors of red, white, and gold in the evening sky, my mind thought of the myriad of freedom narratives that we tell ourselves. You know, something along the lines of breaking free from: shame, guilt, an oppressive marriage, overwhelm, depression, anxiety, a stagnant career, which are all good things to break free from. However, it’s also easy to view it as an opportunity to run uninhibited by anyone or anything and finally live the life we desire or believe we deserve.
In America every 4th of July, we celebrate our freedom as an independent nation and honor the lives that have fallen and continue to protect it. But, you and I both know freedom isn’t limited to just one country, or one evening, because the truth is freedom isn’t found in fireworks. It isn’t found in an unencumbered life either.
I read a post on Instagram by an influential marketing entrepreneur, and when she asked her audience, “What is it you desire the most?”, freedom was the number one response. The problem remains that when you and I seek freedom in places it was never meant to be found, we actually find ourselves enslaved. But when we find freedom in surrendering our lives over to the One who created us in His image, acknowledging His plans and purposes for our lives as greater than our own, then we begin to taste it.
In fact, it’s helpful to stop and remember that the very reason Jesus came to earth was to set us free: free from death, free from sin, and free from love of self. That last one gets me every time. If the root motivation behind any action you and I are seeking in the name of ‘freedom’ has self in it, we may need to reconsider and wrestle with it a bit more. Let me give you three examples:
self-preservation
Self-preservation is one way we desire freedom as a means of protection from potential hurt, inconvenience or even death. While the majority of us would admit we aim to protect ourselves from death, how many of us would admit to how much we try to control outcomes, so that we don’t have to experience the other two? One key way we can live free is to pursue vulnerability and authenticity with those around us. When we are living free, we are free to love well.
self-justification
Self-justification is another way the world whispers it’s lies of freedom in our lives. We may be aware of our need to break free from addiction to substances, food, or man’s praise, but it is an integral part of your job or a bullet point on your enneagram number, so the pattern continues with permission granted. In addition, perhaps we are aware of our need to break free from unhealthy patterns or relationships in our lives, but we view them as our identity so we protect, justify, and in turn remain enslaved.
In order to live free, practice a pattern of regular confession. For me, it’s helpful to start small in my journal then expand confession into my prayer group of trusted women or my husband. The process of getting the words on paper or saying them out loud provides a release from the enslavement of self-justification. It takes your eyes off of the other person and allows God to search your own heart first, breaking through the chains of bondage and walking towards true and lasting fredom.
self-sufficiency
Self-sufficiency may be the most difficult of them all. It would seem on the surface that our lives are most free when we are least dependent on someone else. This leaves us either feeling completely overwhelmed or that we can never measure up. As a wife, writer, mom to four, Homeschooler, teacher, friend, and bible study leader, I have to remind myself daily that I need God to direct and lead me every step of the way. I consistently pray, “God if you are not going before me and going with me - I don’t want to go.” I’ve tried to take the reigns, attempting to write my own story for my life, and it simply left me disappointed and angry (to be honest). It’s when I seek out humility on my knees, surrendering the story of my life to the most loving Author, that I am able to live free even in the here and now.
How about you? Where are you chasing freedom?
Now, go and “live as people who are free”. (1 Peter 2:16) And, as you go, remember, it’s “for freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. For you were called to freedom, brothers [and sisters]. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. (Galatians 5:1, 13)
