Live free and live light. It’s a phrase I’ve heard echoing in my spirit for the past year. I thought I saw it somewhere and somehow latched onto it. Then one day, I was reading Matthew 11, and there it was, right on the page.
In the Message version, Matthew 11: 28-30 says, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn from the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and live lightly.”
I grew up in church, and I’m grateful that I did. However, somewhere along the way, I fell into a legalistic teaching, and that become the way I viewed God. I couldn’t understand this grace that did not require anything from me. I don’t blame the church. I love the church. Though at times we get it wrong, many times we do it right. To attack the church is to attack who Jesus calls his bride. I’m not willing to sit in that judgement seat. Anyways, I think it was part of my personality. I’ve always been a doer. Call it a first born mentality or whatever. I’ve just always liked to do things. I like to work. I like to work hard and do well. I allowed this to seep into how I served Jesus in an unhealthy way. God does call us to serve in excellence, but rather than out of a pure heart, I served so I would feel deserving of this grace he extends to me. But he’s a good father, and he’s patient with his daughter. It has taken life experience to teach me how imperfect I am, and also revelation from my father to receive grace, and to rest in it. He really is a good father. His yoke is easy, and his burden is light. Anytime I’m tempted to “do” something for God so I can feel I deserve his blessings, I remind myself that this is a relationship. He just loves me, and I love him. When I confessed my sins and received him in faith, he robed me in righteousness. Although my sins and actions can create a distance between us, it does not change how he sees me—as righteous and as his bride. So, yes, I now live in the “unforced rhythms of grace.” I do not take advantage of grace to do whatever I want, but grace empowers me to live righteously. If I sin, I repent and I don’t sit in condemnation and guilt. I repent, turn from sin, and remind myself that God sees me as pure, blameless, and righteous. It’s not forceful, and it’s not a chore. I’m not under a law. I live in relationship with Jesus, and he continuously teaches me and molds me into love. As I sit with him and become love, the fruit is love toward my neighbor.
To support my mission to eleven countries next year, I am selling t-shirts. They say “live free and live light,” because that is what I desire to see in other people’s lives—to live in the freedom of the Gospel, and the light of Jesus’ grace. To order, click the link or visit livefreeandlivelight.bigcartel.com.
