Episode 546

TODAY’S READING
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.
Isaiah 61:1

LORD sent his son down, and he paid the ultimate price for our freedom. We get to live with freedom because of what Jesus did for us. And so what I love about this verse, and all of the verses that talk about the action that happened on Calvary, over 2000 years ago, is that the spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on us. And it is a gift from Christ that we get to live in the freedom of that. And so, what does it mean to be free in Christ? Well, as you guys know, I had surgery two years, two weeks ago. I wish it was two years ago. I’d be completely healed, but it’s two weeks ago, almost three, that I’ve had surgery, and I am still learning to eat again. It was a hiatal hernia, so it was in my tummy, and I am on soft foods. Well, last night, I decided to convince myself that french fries were a soft food because I’ve been eating mashed potatoes, and it couldn’t be that much different, right? French fries or like mashed potatoes. But right. But that’s obviously not the case. And I was in pain for hours. I was crying and not having a good time.

Now, the reason I tell you that story is because I have the freedom to eat whatever I want at the mercy of the pain that it causes me. I can do so knowing it’s going to be a bad choice for me in the long run, or I can have the freedom to choose what is best for me. Now I think that is a perfect picture of what it looks like. To follow Christ. We do have the freedom to pick which way to do life. We have the freedom to do life our way; we have the freedom to eat, what we want to drink, what we want to partake in whatever we want. Knowing that, in the long run, it might not have been the best choice, we also have the freedom to choose a godly way. And that is because he gave us free will. So freedom in Christ was a gift because we have free will given to us by God. And so today just want to celebrate that we have freedom in Christ to do life crisis way to do life the way God intended us to do so that we may have the best possible outcome. And so today, I thank the Lord for that. I think the Lord, though, we all have that option. And I just asked him to bless us.

Prayer:
Father God, we absolutely adore you, Lord; we thank you for always being in our corner. Lord, you are sovereign, and your spirit is on us, and you have given us the gift of freedom through your Son Jesus Christ. Lord, you show us what it is to live a righteous life through your ways. And we understand that we have free will. We understand that we have the freedom to do whatever we want. But it is through the true freedom of eternal life with you that we get to choose to do life your way, and so today, we just honor that we honor the ability to be able to do life the way you have called us to do life. And so we ask that you give us the strength to turn away from temptation. We ask that you give us the wisdom to do the next right thing. We absolutely love you, and we ask that you bless this beautiful Monday. It is in your son’s holy name that we pray, Amen.