We’re about to wrap this month’s dig into GOD’S PROMISES and I want to include a message that has a profound and deeply emotional meaning to ME personally. It’s God’s FREEDOM PROMISE and it dramatically and forever changed my faith walk. Re-racked my identity in Christ. Transformed my life on earth. And yes, it ended with a tattoo.
It all started when I was in the throes of a personal crisis of epic proportions when my storybook career as a corporate CEO split into pieces on the southern coast of California.
That’s when this cliché (but very true) line rattled my bones and invaded the troubled and trembling space inside my head and heart—“It’s when you have everything that you realize you don’t have anything at all without God.”
I began my intentional and intense hunt for God’s FREEDOM PROMISE after God tossed me this piercingly powerful promise:
“You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32
I committed that day to activate God’s FREEDOM PROMISE in my life. And so the journey began.
It wasn’t long before God showed me that Jesus is the truth that sets us FREE. The fountain of truth and standard-setting key to be freed from the slavery of sin. The path to eternal life in God’s Kingdom.
I soon saw that God’s freedom is not SATISFYING self; it’s SERVING others. That’s when this sobering reality came rushing into the cinema of my mind–TRUE freedom in Christ is not about chasing my dreams. It is about subordinating self in the service of others.
Jesus freed us from our guilt and shame to SERVE (Philippians 2:3-4).
“You were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Galatians 5:13
Of course this conflicts with how the world conjures freedom—independence, wealth, self-determination, and beaches. Trying to connect the word SERVICE to anything remotely related to the world’s definition of FREEDOM is like an Olympic swimmer starting a race with concrete shoes.
That is why I had these words tattooed on my wrist to remind me forever of God’s FREEDOM PROMISE: Love God Fear Nothing.
I never want to stop seeking God’s freedom so my focus is OFF satisfying self and ON serving others.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
When was the last time you experienced and were transformed by God’s FREEDOM?
“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16
