"Enslaved by Freedom!"

The Apostle Paul was no stranger to plenty and certainly no stranger to want.  He writes a piece that suggests how one should live out his faith. It is in these various circumstances that he finds contentment.  Such contentment then gives him freedom.  He writes,

"Not that I speak of want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.  I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need..  I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:11-13).

There is one thing that this man understood and it was and continues to be what allows the Christian to enjoy contentment and comfort in the most dire of circumstances.  It is this "God is God and I am not!"

How can this be?  It is all in building a trust relationship with the Heavenly Father.  Paul understood that point quite clearly and in fact such trust underpins much of what he writes about.  He understood that in that trust relationship he was a slave to Jesus--he had freely made the choice to be in a slave-master relationship with God!.  Here is this very trained and accomplished man with accolades beyond number who counts it all as "refuse" and assumes the position of a slave.

While many have chosen to employ the word servant in order to attempt to take the sting out of the original word, however translated or mistranslated it is, in the original the word is "slave." The interesting point is that everyone is a slave to someone or something.  One cannot be a slave unless one has a Master.  Such being so, one must choose carefully one's master whether it be Jesus Christ, the insatiable self, or the evil one.

So it was that the Apostle, vested with great power and authority in the first century church, still understood that he was but a slave--a love slave under the tutelage and direction of his Master, the Lord, Jesus Christ.  It is from that perspective that he sets the example not just for Christians of his day but for every Christian who has named Jesus as his Master!

People of that day unlike we in the west today, would understand the meaning of this since a high percentage of the Roman economy and culture was based in the owning of slaves.  Within that population there were those who chose to be permanently attached to their master and as such never sought freedom.  They freely gave themselves most often it was to a benevolent master.  What a picture of the Christian's relationship with Christ.

Therefore, once one is born again it is into the relationship with Jesus Christ.  As noted then one is to becomes a slave with Christ as the benevolent Master.  So it is that one would sell himself into slavery with Christ thus we might well say, Jesus is Lord and Master, I am not!

Jesus Christ does not demand that anyone enter this relationship.  In fact, if it is not a relationship entered freely and without reservation, no Christian relationship exists.  But here is the key.  If one chooses to be a slave of Christ, he then chooses a life style of obedient service.  Some years ago the USAF had three core values.  "Service before self,  Integrity, and Excellence in all we do."  What great core values for the slave of the Lord.


However, if one does not become a slave of Christ, Jesus it is very likely that he will become a slave of another.  It begins with being enslaved to self and self gratification.  Even those who are altruistic in effort when quarried will often respond with "Serving makes me feel so good."

However noble its beginnings, without Christ such slavery spirals downward into bondage and other forms of incorrect enslavement.  These are not without spiritual elements and thus one become enslaved to the Kingdom of Darkness and to its malevolent master, Satan.

In other words, one is either knowingly a slave of the benevolent Christ or one tacitly is enslaved to self leading to one's enslavement by the malevolent evil one.  Either way such slavery shapes one's life-style.  Such brings changes in thinking--both content and process.  Changes in thinking then brings about changes in attitudes.  Relationships are scaled up or down according to whose slave one might be.  The list goes on and on as to the effects upon the slave.

The notion that to come to faith in Christ and to enter such relationships as He has designed is to lose one's freedom is in fact not true.  It is the one who demands his own way and then becomes enslaved to that way that loses his freedom.  Said another way, in giving one's self to Christ Jesus and then living out life in the power of His resurrection grants true freedom--freedom from bondage, oppression, etc.  Freedom to contentment, faith, trust, and confidence in God.  It is these latter things that once established in one's life grant freedom no matter the circumstances in which one finds himself.

"Traveling the Routes of Life..."

“Transiting Life According to My Way or God’s Way”

All of the following is to say that for most, it is easier to have a healthier expectation of a local transit system than to have a healthy expectation of God and His ways.

THE EXAMPLE OF THE TRANSIT BUS:  When was the last time you went to catch a bus and did one or more of the following?

Demand that the bus be there waiting when you arrived at the stop in order to avoid inconvenience.

Demand that the bus arrive in order to avoid unpleasant weather or a bad situation.

Demand that the bus stop be situated where it was most convenient.

Demand that the bus arrive on your schedule and/or according to your plan no matter the effect on others.

Demand that the bus travel on routes that are pleasant.

Of course this is most ludicrous.  The transit system plan insures that the bus arrives according to a schedule designed to fit with a greater plan?  Perhaps it is traffic volume, a city’s traffic flow pattern, the number of riders, where and when those riders typically travel, high use facilities such as shopping malls, etc.

BEFORE WE BEGIN:  Before continuing be clear about one very important thing.  God is not the prisoner of His own good ideas and thus He is free to interrupt our expectations of Him according to His good pleasure.  He is to be trusted beyond our understanding and we must be willing to accept His interruptions whether they be quiet or dramatic!  He is the great healer, the provider, the One who blesses, the destroyer of spiritual strongholds, the one who commissions signs and wonders, and the One we call on to be against the evil one and his kingdom of darkness.  However, there is a problem and we need to think about it in terms of man's limitations!

CONCERN - MAN’S LIMITED VIEW:  As one does not expect the bus to be there according to one’s personal plans, pleasures, purposes or agendas, so too one does well not place those expectations and others like them upon God and His interventions in the lives of His followers.  Consider the following.

God's Love?  Most certainly God does love each and every person.  However, such love is expressed in ways one may not understand.  The example is that of a parent who expresses love in a way that may not be understood or accepted by the child.  

Consider as well the matter of what God likes.  He may love everyone but that does not mean that He likes everyone.  To be in the favor or the "like" relationship with God means that one seek to live a life which is pleasing to the Heavenly Father (More about this in a later post).

Man's View:  Remember man’s view is limited by many factors.  To suppose that any one person has the grand plan is to suggest that the finite fully understand the Infinite.

Man's Supposition:  As one makes way through life, it is to say the least naive to suppose one knows the best course to follow and/or the best course of action.  From my Navy days consider the following.  Imagine a ship transiting the entrance to a sea port without soundings, navigational aids, navigational charts, and/or a channel master.  God is the ultimate Channel Master who knows best the channel in which His follower’s lives are to flow individually and corporately.

God's Timing:  Consider too that to demand God to be there upon one’s own schedule is very often to limit one’s view of God's intervention.  

When one enjoys the event we call a Divine encounter, most often it is best experienced when God shows up or intervenes in one's life in an unexpected manner at an unexpected moment.

MAN A GOD? A SUBTLE TRAP:  Consider this question.  Do you recognize these words, “…You will be like God?”  Yes, from the earliest records of mankind in the Garden of Eden, it was all about man placing himself in God’s position.  That which was once presented as a temptation now has become ingrained in man’s depraved thinking and the ultimate expression of the “self.”  

Whether tacitly or directly stated such insidious thoughts often becomes a part of one’s mental content and process.     Unfortunately such cannot be limited to those outside of the Church for it has made inroads into those of faith.  It all sounds so good, designer god on my terms at my time. 

RESPONSIBLE SURRENDER:  It is far better to surrender indeed commit to and live out the words, “Not my will but Thine be done.” Immediately some will counter that it is some kind of “Christian Fatalism.”  That is to say they counter with the criticism that such commitment means; “I am absolved of any and all responsibility when I pray, ‘Not my will but Thine be done’.”  Not so!

Join me back in my Navy days for another illustration.  In order for a ship to have steering, it must be underway.  In other words, a ship dead in the water and unanchored is at the mercy of current and tide.  Such is also true of the Christian. 

In order for the “Thy will not mine” to work one must go forward in one’s faith.  However, one must also be willing for such plans and purposes as are in place to be interrupted.  Neither does it serves God’s purposes to be unwilling to go in ways found to be inconvenient—God’s way is always comforting and confidence building but often found to be not convenient.

All of the preceding is to say that for most, it is easier to have a healthier expectation of a local transit system than to have a healthy expectation of God and His ways.

THE CHALLENGE:  Trust in the Lord and do not give in to the propensity to try to figure it all out for such is always limited by our finite perspective.  Leave such to the side and God will lead in the path in which one should go, the path that lines up perfectly with His Kingdom plan.