What does it mean to you? Does it mean you can say what you want? Does it mean you can wear what you want? Live how/where/with who you want?
Is the generic type of freedom, freedom to all?
Behaving how I want freely - no matter how bad....is that not consequential then for someone else?
What do we mean when we say we are free?
I have recently been thinking about the power of testimony, the allegory, the story. How pivotal this can be in changing lives and influencing others.
We see, in the Bible the power of the woman by the Wells's testimony. The ridiculed, cast out woman who had a different time to fetch water from the well to everyone else, had a story to tell and saw many saved.
What's the one thing people can't take away from us? Our story.
My story consists of freedom...a freedom singularly found in Christ.
This is Part 1 of Testimony.
A guarantee we hear from preachers, and indeed Jesus himself, is freedom when we trust and follow him:
' If the son sets you free, you will be free indeed' John 8:36
But what is freedom?
The social view of freedom seems ever so slightly misconstrued.
'Freedom of Speech' isn't really freedom when we see others condemning a view that isn't a popular opinion.
This is to be expected of us however. In contemplation of infinity, we become bewildered, we don't understand how something cannot have an end. This then crosses over to freedom. Freedom has boundaries. Our morals and laws restrict freedom. Freedom is not freedom, no matter how hard we try and convince each other that it is.
So then how can we know freedom with Christ?
The obvious answer for Christians is that we are freed from the punishment of sin - correct. But to me it means more.
In order to explain what the freedom of Christ is, I will use some of my testimony.
See, being free in Christ today, I can look back at my past and see the shift in who I am since following him.
Freedom, from what I can understand and have experienced, isn't necessarily a physical freedom.
The laws are still relevant, my physical body is still relevant.
Freedom, for me is in outlook.
It is depicted well in 1 Kings 4:29 by what God gave Solomon.
'God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore.'
Freedom gives you insight, an awareness of the world, which is masked when your mind is consumed by the world.
You can understand reasons as to why people do things. For me, I am much more conscious of my actions.
A side note I am conscious to include is that; I by no means understand all of the world, or all of people's thoughts and motives behind their actions. I would be foolish and naive to say I did. What I am saying is that, being free means you can take your mind out of the world's thoughts and look at it in a heaven inspired way - not just go with it, as we all have the tendency to do.
For me, I was very self-conscious, thought it was my looks that caused me to not have many friends in school. I hated being alone, felt like I always needed someone around to make me worthy.
My thoughts were consumed with 'how can I be accepted', 'what will make people like me most' and 'people will like me if I'm skinnier'.
The freedom I feel now, is not negatively consequential for anyone, my freedom in Christ brings joy, love, strength, and wisdom.
And I can confidently say that whilst there are tough times, joy resounds. Freedom in Christ helps you to realise that whilst there's pain in the night, there's joy in the morning.
Freedom in Christ is genuine joy that no other thing can give you. It completes you, makes you whole, and lifts the veil which causes us walk indifferently through the stages of our lives, so we can see things with new eyes and a new heart.
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