{"id":8404,"date":"2013-03-11T14:00:39","date_gmt":"2013-03-11T21:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/?p=8404"},"modified":"2018-08-01T22:19:40","modified_gmt":"2018-08-01T22:19:40","slug":"cry-freedom-indeed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/featured\/cry-freedom-indeed\/","title":{"rendered":"The Longing for Deeper Freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. – John 8:36<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It is a universal cry of the human heart<\/strong>. \u00a0The cry ‘freedom’ has resonated through the long halls of history and just as in day’s past. This longing resonates just as loudly today. \u00a0Of course, freedom has many contexts including civil rights, gender equality, economic freedom and the list goes on and on. \u00a0 The struggle for freedom from the oppression of others, thoughts, ideologies and in many ways from ourselves sets a fertile ground for the human struggle. \u00a0The struggle to regain (Not that we ever really had it but somehow know we were created for it) the authenticity and to thrive, to create and be at peace. \u00a0To shed the <\/span>heavyweights of fear, toil, and death in all its forms; to regain the simplicity of being \u2013 \u00a0to know (experience) we are loved and free in turn to love. \u00a0Indeed the yearning for freedom is intricately a part of our longing for love rooted in something much bigger than ourselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you. – Galatians 5:1, MSG<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I have the privilege to walk alongside folks who are exploring freedom in Christ. The beauty and authenticity of freedom we have in Christ as in no other way <\/span>can restore to us what we sense in the core of us is genuinely amiss. In <\/span>Christ, our alienation from our Source with its shame, guilt, and self-righteousness are dealt with once and for all. \u00a0 The symptoms are legions as we scramble to attempt to satisfy our deepest most intimate longings through unabashed consumption of things and yes, people. \u00a0All in an effort to fill the hole, a deep yearning within us that can only be truly satisfied by God \u2013 Christ <\/span>is the ideal path to that relationship. \u00a0Please, when I speak of Christ resist the temptation to think of the religion of Christianity rather I am speaking of the person of Jesus Christ \u2013 our answers are not \u00a0found in a religious system but in the person of Jesus Christ<\/strong> \u2013 God in the flesh who dwelt among us and for loves sake offered Himself as the cure for our shame and sense of guilt; which keeps us from knowing Him and being whole!<\/span><\/p>\n

Often, we \u00a0embrace – with great enthusiasm \u2013 the idea of freedom from _____________. You can insert sin, death, fear, lies, anxiety, manipulation, financial struggle, relational challenges, sickness, oppression, abuse, religious obligation and a host of other things. These are real challenges and I, like many of you have and perhaps still are crying for freedom from these things.<\/span><\/p>\n

Authentic freedom, however, does not free us from living life. \u00a0It doesn\u2019t free us from the consequences of our choices rather <\/span>make freer choices and freely accept the consequences of that freedom<\/strong>. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We are freed from<\/span> so we can be free to<\/span><\/strong>. \u00a0This is the deeper part of freedom. The freedom to<\/b> love, the freedom to<\/b> overcome, the freedom to<\/b> make healthy choices, the freedom to<\/b> stay free, the freedom to<\/b> be responsible, the freedom to<\/b> be generous, the freedom to<\/b> be honest, the freedom to<\/b> be a friend, the freedom to<\/b> serve others, the freedom to<\/b> lay your life down for our friends, the freedom to<\/b> go the extra mile, the freedom to turn the other cheek, the freedom to<\/b> forgive 70\u00d77, the freedom to<\/b> be content with a little or a lot, the freedom\u2026. and this list too goes on and on.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since we\u2019re free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it\u2019s your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you\u2019ve let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you\u2019ve started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom! – Romans 6:16-18<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Freedom from and freedom to are different sides of the same coin. \u00a0They offer us a fuller experience of genuine freedom<\/strong>. \u00a0For many, a deep sense of freedom is being cultivated even amidst and in the <\/span>throes of some very difficult circumstances. \u00a0For example, freedom to discover meaning \u2013 even in suffering or struggles \u2013 a sense of meaning which transcends circumstances<\/strong> and yields a most mystical and powerful, transformative freedom that has inspired tremendous courage, perseverance, <\/span>and sacrifice \u2013 the ultimate of freedom! \u00a0The freedom to make love inspired choices, to love, to be kind and generous, to respond with hope and mercy in the midst of our pain demonstrates the most beautiful authentic freedom.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pastor and author Charles Kingsley (1819 \u2013 1875) <\/span>wrote: \u201cThere are two freedoms \u2013 the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; the true, where he is free to do what he ought.\u201d \u00a0I agree by qualifying that \u201cought\u201d is what one can only do when they are truly free, and it is not an obligation to earn salvation or the love of God but because we already experience God\u2019s saving love.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. – John 8:36 It is a universal cry of the human heart. \u00a0The cry ‘freedom’ has resonated through the long halls of history and just as in day’s past. This longing resonates just as loudly today. \u00a0Of course, freedom has many contexts including…","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,34],"tags":[99,172,179,199],"class_list":["post-8404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-soul-significance","tag-christian-formation","tag-experiencing-god","tag-faith-in-real-life","tag-freedom-in-christ"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}