Living in Freedom

I recently spent a beautiful afternoon at a farm in Tuscaloosa. It’s not the kind of farm that has cows or chickens or horses but it is the kind that’s tucked far away from the main highway and any kind of distractions. It’s the kind that you have to know a code to get past the gate and then drive on a dirt road the rest of the way. It’s the kind of place where even if for just an afternoon you can leave your worries behind and just enjoy the moment.

It was some time after we had eaten some good food, celebrated birthdays and engaged in conversation that included all the jokes and inside stories we had collected over the years, that some of us went outside to ride towards the river. 

With my hair blowing in the breeze and the countryside all around me, I took a deep breath and noted how for the first time in awhile I just felt free.

There were no problems chasing me down, no heartbreak, no demands and no cell phone service. It was just me and the wide open space. I had not realized until that moment, how pressured and weighed down I had been lately. It was a stark contrast to simply feel at peace. To be able to breathe and think and be somewhere away from it all.

I felt the Holy Spirit stir within my heart.

The freedom you are feeling now is the same freedom you can experience everyday. I came so that you could feel this way not just occasionally, but all the time. It doesn’t just have to be here and there. You can live in it every single moment.

I immediately thought of the cross and the benefits we receive for Jesus dying in our place. God’s plan all along was for us to experience true peace and freedom, not to be weighed down by all the muck and mire. That’s not to say that we won’t have bad days or hard moments, but that when we do we can remember that we have victory because Christ had victory over death. Easter always brings a time of reflection for me. Rebirth and Resurrection...Salvation and Some Glad Morning...What my Savior did for me on a hill far away. 

Except maybe that’s the problem. Maybe the cross is too far away from our everyday moments, struggles and hardships. Maybe too often we leave it up there on Calvary when we are actually meant to bring it with us and let its power shine into our troubles. Perhaps we don't feel free because we've forgotten what freed us in the first place.
As I pondered the journey Jesus took to the cross this year, I couldn't stop thinking about the disciples. I believe they were in search for freedom too and I think about what it must have been like for them when it looked like it wasn't coming after all. They had given up everything to follow a man who they thought would do something extraordinary like overturn Roman authority and become a beloved leader. All their promises rested on His shoulders. All their hopes and dreams. Everything these men believed revolved around following Jesus and what they thought was going to happen. And it was all going according to plan; until it wasn’t. 

Jesus wasn’t supposed be arrested and mocked and put on trial. And He certainly wasn’t supposed to die. Jesus had claimed He was the way. He had told them He was the promised Messiah; the son of God. It didn't add up. This man they had followed and trusted and loved was suddenly gone and in the grave. They must have felt like they had made a huge mistake. They must have felt so wrong and confused and hopeless. 

The One Year Bible describes it like this, “Although the disciples continued to love Jesus, their hopes for the Kingdom were shattered. Most of them had gone into hiding. As one of the followers sadly said two days later, ‘We had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel’” (Luke 24:21).

Even though Jesus had tried to explain it, the disciples didn’t know what was coming on Easter morning. They didn’t get that God’s plan was much greater than what they had in mind. All they thought in that moment was that they had chosen to trust the wrong person. To them Jesus was nothing but a promise breaker. 

I wonder how many times we do the same thing?  

What do we do when our promises that are resting on His shoulders don’t pan out?  What about all our hopes and dreams that seem to find their way to the grave? What happens when God does something different than we thought He would? How often do we give up hope when everything looks bleak and dark? And how many times do we get stuck in the mourning and forget about the miracle? 

The answer for me personally is more times than I’d like to admit. I understand the followers of Jesus because I've been there too. I've wondered if my trust was misguided. I've asked if maybe I'd heard the promise incorrectly. Maybe you've been there too. But what an advantage we have to know the whole story. Unlike the people gathered at the cross, we know Easter morning follows Good Friday. Oh that I could remember that hope isn’t anchored in circumstances. Hope is found in Jesus. Hope is found when I remember that the cross was not the end. And the things I’m walking through aren't either. 

I’m not sure where today finds you, but know that hope doesn’t have to be far away. Neither does freedom. It may look like things are at their worst, but the empty tomb demonstrates that we never know what tomorrow might hold. We CAN trust Jesus! And we don’t have to wait for Easter to remember what Jesus did for us. We can live in it every single day. We can embrace that even when things appear to be one way, God is at work bringing about a glorious son-rise. Let us not forget, “For with God, all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). 

-Only Hope