True Freedom

I finished reading Huckleberry Finn this morning.

 

Set around the Mississippi river in 1840s America, it tells the tale of Huck Finn - a teenage boy who escapes an abusive father by faking his own death and travelling down the river on a raft. 

 

Along the way, he meets an escaped slave, Jim, who has run away from his owner, because she has threatened to sell him.

 

Jim is recaptured and sold several times throughout the novel and, as a black slave, he has absolutely no rights.  He doesn't own himself.  He is not a free man.

 

At the end of the novel, Huck and his friend Tom develop a very elaborate plan to free Jim from his slavery once and for all.  However, in the very last pages, the reader discovers that Jim has, in fact, been free for a while:

"Old Miss Watson died two months ago, and she was ashamed she ever was going to sell him down the river, and said so; and she set him free in her will."

"Then what on earth did you want to set him free for, seeing he was already free?"

 

Sometimes, we too, don't realise our own status as free people.  We are no longer bound by things in our past - sin, or mistakes, or regret, or shame, or guilt.  We are no longer enslaved.

 

But sometimes we waste our time trying to set ourselves free from these things, without realising that we are already free.

 

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free."

[Galatians 5: NIV, emphasis mine]

And in The Message translation, this verse reads,

 

"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."

 

[emphasis mine]

 

In both of these verses, freedom is something that Christ has already secured for us.  It is not something that we have to strive for or earn - it is something that he has already won for us.

 

Like Jim, we need to realise and remember our true status as free people.  And we need to make sure that no one - not even ourselves - snatches this freedom from us. 

 

 

 

Special Privileges

My car failed and then passed its MOT today.

 

Thankfully, it didn't need much doing in order to ensure it passed round two - I just had to replace two of the tyres.  And luckily for me, Dad was around to help co-ordinate the replacing of the tyres whilst I was at work. 

 

When I picked my car up this afternoon, Dad had already paid on my behalf (for me to pay him back later), and he gave me a 'bill' which comprised of three parts:

 

- MOT (with Local Resident Discount)

- Tyres (with no discount)

- Door Trim (with Daughter Discount)

 

I had forgotten that about a year ago, the door trim on my passenger door had been lost to the elements after a particularly windy drive.  I hadn't really been able to afford to replace it - especially as it wasn't essential to the safe running of my car.

 

However, Dad had remembered and had asked the garage to replace it for me.  And, what's more, he paid for it and 'treated' me to it. 

 

He paid.  I got it for free.

 

I got a 'Daughter Discount'. 

 

In the Bible, God says that we get special privileges as His children, too.

"You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, 'Papa!  Father!'  Doesn't that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child?  And if you are a child, you're also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance."

 

[Galatians 4:6-7 MSG]

 

Complete access to the inheritance.

 

Complete access to God, our Father.  Complete access to the glorious future He has planned for us.  Complete access to forgiveness and redemption and restoration.  Complete access to grace and mercy and healing.

 

As God's children, we each get special privileges.

 

He paid.  We get them for free.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What's the Catch?

I've been shopping today for the first time in a while and I was amazed by how many sales and 'offers' there were around.

 

£20 off when you spend £100.  Come in to claim your free gift worth £15.  Buy two, get one free.

 

Offers which, on the surface, seem good. 

 

But there is always a catch.

 

I have to spend £100 to get £20 off.  I have to purchase several items and sign up to monthly emails to get a 'free' gift.  I have to buy two of something (which I might not even need or want), in order to get a third (again, which I might neither need nor want), for 'free'.

 

'Free' doesn't really mean 'free' anymore, does it?

 

There is always a catch.

 

Is that why we struggle to accept Jesus' words and promises?  Eternal life, forgiveness for all of the things we've done wrong, and a restoration of our relationship with our heavenly Father.  For free?

 

Is there a catch?

 

Yes. 

 

But not for us. 

 

Jesus has already paid the price to secure these things for us.  He laid down His perfect, flawless life as a sacrifice, or an exchange, for us.  He, quite literally, paid the cost on our behalf, so that we can enjoy the freedom that that brings.  We can have eternal life, we can receive forgiveness for the things that we've done wrong and our relationship with our heavenly Father can be restored.

 

Because Jesus paid the price.

"God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ."

[2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT]

 

In the examples from my shopping experience: Jesus has paid the £100, I just get to use the £20 off.  He has purchased several items and signed up for the emails; I get the free gift.  He has bought two items and given me the third for free.

 

It is free only because Jesus has paid the cost.  We get all of the benefits without having to pay any of the costs.

 

Is there a catch?  Yes.  But Jesus has already paid it for us.

Freefall

I always feel sorry for people who either a) say they don't dream or b) seem to have really dull dreams.  Given that you can do anything in dreams, some people's dreams just seem a bit too much like everyday life.

I like the kind of dreams that couldn't really happen in 'real life'.  Dreams where you fly, or are chased but never get caught.

Or those dreams where you fall and wake up just before you land.

Whilst I don't know that I would ever be brave enough to actually sky-dive, I love the sensation of falling in dreams.

Complete freedom.

Total abandonment.

No strings attached.

God offers us this complete freedom too:

"Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people - free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds.  And not just barely free, either.  Abundantly free!"  [Ephesians 1:7 MSG]

But in order to experience this freedom, we need to let go of everything we're holding on to.  In the same way that to sky-dive, you have to leave the safety of the plane and trust your parachute, we have to leave the safety of our own understanding and trust God.  Trust what He has said and what He has done.  Trust that it is enough and that we can't add to it with our own efforts. 

We can't put our trust in God and in ourselves.

 "Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own.  Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go."

[Proverbs 3:5 MSG]

 
        "You tell me I've been made free

You give me everything I need to walk in my dreams

You whisper words that free my soul

You're the reason I have hope

You're everything I need and more

You made me

You made me free."

[Dara Maclean, Free]

 

 

You can't freefall if you're still holding on.