Hey everyone! I have some encouragement that I would love to share with you all the way from Bangkok, Thailand. It is something God is slowly opening my eyes to.
The more distance I travel, the longer I am parted from the comforts of home, and the harder the Race becomes, I find myself experiencing an untameable, richly beautiful God. Away from the noise; away from the clutter; away from mindless distractions, I am beginning to see more of God’s heart for me.
It sends shivers up my spine. His unapologetically wild passion for my affection is jaw-dropping. His desire to walk with me in abundant life is almost too good to be true. The Bible wasn’t kidding about God being for me.
I think about how strongly my parents support me and believe in me. They have always wanted the best for me. My Heavenly Father is rooting for me even more so. As my God, Creator, Savior, Father, and Good Shepherd, He has certain desires for me. These desires include an intimate relationship with Him, abundant life, gifts like love and peace, experiencing Jesus through extending love and forgiveness to others, and…… freedom.
One of God the Father’s greatest desires for His children is that they walk in freedom. What a beautiful thing to want for someone you love!
Freedom. I think this is a concept that we get excited about, but I also feel like it is rarely something we personally experience this side of eternity. Is that just a reality to accept as we live in a broken world? Or, have we simply settled for a freedom-less life because we missed something?
Christ has set us free to live a free life (Gal. 5:1, MSG).
Freedom is something Christ purchased for us on the cross. It is meant to be a reality now, not after death. Our freedom came at a steep price. Freedom always does.
It is a remarkable thing, this free life Jesus died to give us! And yet, so many of us are still living as though our old chains weigh us down. I don’t think anyone actually wants to do this… I think the issue is that we just don’t know how to step into that free life we know is rightfully ours.
The other day, I was listening to a song by Rend Collective (my all-time favorite band), and the truth of these lyrics resounded like a gong in my heart:
“It’s only in surrender that I’m free.”
Wow. That’s deep.
This started me on a meditative journey. What is the connection between surrender and freedom? Is the conditional statement that Rend Collective made actually true? That in order to experience true freedom, we must pay the price of surrender?
To surrender something is to let go of it; to release your grip on it. Freedom, on the other hand, is taking hold of something. Surrender is a sacrifice to give; freedom is a gift to receive.
One of the first things freedom makes me think of is dancing. There is so much freedom in dancing! The movement, the carefree spirit, the expression and vulnerability… However, oftentimes (especially during worship), I hold back from letting loose and dancing when my spirit wants to. Why? Because I’m not willing to surrender my concerns about what other people will think.
This example automatically leads me to King David in 2 Samuel 6 …. “It was reported to King David that God had prospered Obed-Edom and his entire household because of the Chest of God. So David thought, “I’ll get that blessing for myself,” and went and brought up the Chest of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David, celebrating extravagantly all the way, with frequent sacrifices of choice bulls. David, ceremonially dressed in priest’s linen, danced with great abandon before God.”
In order to dance like this, David first had to surrender, or let go of, any worries about how others would respond to him (which was a good thing, because later on we see that his wife is judgmental and annoyed about it). His freedom came at the price of relinquishing the idolatry of approval. That’s not an easy thing to do.
Jesus also experienced this connection between surrender and freedom. He had to surrender His very life and will to His Father so that we could be free.
God is revealing to me several areas of my life that require surrender so that I may step into the free life Christ died to give me.
I must surrender fear of the unknown to experience the freedom of saying “Yes” to Jesus.
I must surrender side-ward glances of comparison to step into the freedom of being who God uniquely created me to be.
I must surrender desire for control to revel in the freedom of being in relationship with an unpredictable God.
I must surrender idolatry of comfort to be free to grow.
I must surrender my plans to be free to dream big with Jesus.
Surrender is not, by any means, easy. It is painful. It is hard. But this one-time act of surrender opens our hands, that we may take hold of God’s eternal gift of freedom.
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 16:25).
What is God asking you to surrender, so that you can step into the life of freedom He deeply desires for you?
