He that is good is free, though he is a slave; he that is evil is a slave, though he be a king.
~Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430)
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
~ Jesus, King of the Universe, and Son of His Father in John 15
Oh beloved, it is true. He gives it all back… His Way for sure. But most surely His way is better than any way we could ever even hope to expect.
He has redeemed us from a dark, dark pit from which there is no escape, but for Him. And upon this release, we find the the entire landscape around the hole into which we fell is completely different. It is a bright and high cairn, gorgeous in expanse, and lush in its beauty.
We are not just free from the penalty of sin, He has indeed set us free from the propensity to sin. For we are now free to simply live rightly and act with justice as He has written His law on our now-soft hearts.
We are not just free from the need for material wealth, He has freed us from the willingness to become slaves to the lender. For our riches are Him, and He is beyond exhaustion.
We are not just free from the fear of death, He has freed us from the sting of its constraint. For death is no longer free to reap its harvest in a believer’s life.
We are not just free from the guilt of our sin, He has freed us from the shame and condemnation altogether. We are so incredibly justified that we actually have a new past in Him. For He was slain for us before the very foundations of the earth.
We are not just free from the wishing that things would go well in our lives, He has freed us from wishing and replaced it with assurance and hope. For we now converse with the Owner and Maker and Mover of everything – and He delights to share with those who delight in Him.
We are not just free from the pit of sickness and disease, He has freed us from the consequence of “rips in our tent” altogether. For we are united with the One whose name is Healer.
We are not just free from the fickleness of our past, He has freed us from any allegiance to any creed or person. For we are holy unto Him.
We are not just free from the need for approval by others, He has freed us from the need to even care what other people think. For we now have an audience of simply One – and we are His friend.
We are not just free from the desire to have people love us, He has freed us from the egocentricity that drove this perverse and idolatrous pride of life. For we now have the ability and desire to Love in the right direction.
We are not just free from the solitary confinement of our minds, He has freed us from isolation altogether. For we are betrothed to a Husband with Whom we will enjoy intimacy and companionship forever.
We are not just free from the depression of fleshly existence, He has freed us from ourselves that our minds may be conscious of His Presence. For in His Presence is the fullness of joy. And in this joy we find a most-incredible strength to live out the impossible path He has set before us.
Can we see it? We have not just had the prison door of our past life unlocked. We have been delivered from our past altogether into a completely different life. It is as if we have become a completely different person. For surely, in Him, we have.
Feeling the darkness closing in around you? It is a lie friends. For we are free from it. And not just a little bit. For He is mighty to save. And, oh by the way… the list above is really only the beginning. Really.
