well well well, a saturday night post?
what a rare occurrence
but when you gotta write you gotta write...right? (see what i did there? yep.)
i should be really honest right now and tell you that patriotic stuff, it isnt really my thing
ya know, i guess in my mind its hard to wrap my mind around all that days like july 4th represent, and im sure if i was a citizen of the new colony and had just come out from under the queens reign 3 or 4 years ago, id feel differently, and im sure that if i had not always had things like independence and all that jazz id be more appreciative, im sure this is really just a taking for granted thing on my part...i have no one to blame but myself really...i dont have a problem with any of it, im just sayin if a school were to have a most patriotic superlative...i wouldnt be anywhere near the running
all that to help you understand the oddity of the fact that today i was talking about freedom
little ms loves her country but not real patriotic was thinking about freedom?
yep
sure was
and i have no idea why
i am most certainly not the first person to ever come up with the idea that freedom is ironic because there is nothing about it thats free
but mostly i see this pertaining to the good ole u.s. of a.
PAUSE THAT THOUGHT
everywhere i have gone recently i see the same creepy people from my school...like 4 of them...not as in the 4 of them in a group...i mean the 4 of them very separately just all at the same places i am...at the same time...does this mean i am part of the creepy group that isnt really a group but in an unexplainable way is a group group?...this is a sort of sad but not so unexpected revelation...oh well, i digress...
OK YOU CAN UNPAUSE THE THOUGHT NOW
so i havent really ever compared and contrasted the meaning of freedom in the context of the Lord and i versus ya know, the country i live in
i have just sort of taken the word freedom in pertaining to my faith and just let it be sort of nice and refreshing but not much more than that...
but this afternoon it occurred to me that not only is freedom not free it only comes after a very intense battle
and not only does it come after an intense battle, it is something that has to be continually fought for and defended against any number of strategies, weapons, and enemies
it is a war actually
not a battle
that brings freedom
in fact
it is a war
not a battle
that brings anything worth fighting for
but we are not the ones fighting
we think we are because we're dumb
but we arent
the Lord and the enemy are in this war over our souls
over our attention
over our beings
over everything we are, have, and will choose to be
kate what happened to the battle you are fighting has already been won?
Chist won the battle for our hearts...absolutely
but our worship, our adoration, our desires
there is this constant war being waged not for our initial freedom, bought at a price on the Cross, no...youre right not for the freedom itself but for what we choose to do with it
how do i know that?
welp, if im gonna go fight for something, its gonna be because it has worth to me, it means something to me, it helps me in some way, it matters, it has value
and call me crazy but i feel like probably Christ and the devil feel the same
which means that if all we were called to do was to come to earth and get saved...then after that, wouldnt we lose our worth to satan? wouldnt he have no choice but to concede the loss? call it a day? go after something else...someONE else? if there was only one purpose for us here, then after that one purpose was accomplished...wouldnt his white flag on us go up? hed have no choice...bc thatd be the ballgame
dont read that as me saying you can lose your salvation...but people im talkin about purpose...im talkin about meaning...im talkin about God saying HEY ITS NOT ENOUGH TO JUST BELIEVE...I WANT MORE FOR AND FROM YOU THAN THAT...I WANT EVERYTHING...NOT JUST YOUR BELIEF...I WANT YOUR LIFE...AND I WONT GO DOWN WITHOUT A FIGHT
we clearly still have worth or the Creator wouldnt be constantly fighting for our attention with the most wicked being ever to live...actually we clearly have worth to satan too...which means to me that he knows that if he loses me to the Good Side that its a devastating loss, and think what you will but that makes me feel pretty solid about my standing in the Lords eyes...it feels pretty fantastic to be looked at from the Winning side AND the losing side as a valuable player...
so our freedom is not free
but our Freer says this war over you and over me is one worth fighting...and its one worth giving His most prized weapon for...His ONLY son
it is a bloody war
one not devoid of casualties
there are wounded soldiers
there are strategies that fail
there are plans that go a ry
there are captors taken
there are choices made and consequences that follow
there are sacrifices made that go unanswered
there are, unfortunately, battles that are lost...
but God says HEY, keep your head up...he may have won that battle, but I WILL WIN THIS WAR
you are not just worth the rescue
you are worth the redemption
you are worth the restoration
you are worth the reformation
the recreation, resolution, the reaction, the rebuilding
you are worth doing it all the first time
but you are worth so much, that I am compelled to do it again
you are worth so much that I am so ok adding 're' to my vocabulary concerning you
freedom doesnt just happen
and it doesnt just stay that way once it has
it has to be fought for
it has to be sacrificed for
it has to come at cost
it does come at a cost
a cost He is willing to pay because you are priceless
so go live in some freedom
and leave the fight Your Father
cause freedom isnt freedom cause its free, freedom is freedom because you are....
youre free
go live like it
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