We hear so much talk about people expressing their desire to be free and that is a good thing. It is good to be free from racial injustice. It’s good to be free from tyrannical rule. It is good to be free to choose to think what one wants to think. It is good to be free to express one’s own opinion and not be thrown in jail or to be silenced for that expression.
From what I have seen and experienced of life - and I am 63 years old now - most people do not understand what true freedom is. True freedom is the freedom to walk in our identity as new creations in Christ in spite of what the world thinks or says or does…in spite of our circumstances…in spite of the trials of life.
Freedom - true freedom - is walking relationally with Jesus Christ. That freedom began for me when I was set free from my past life…a sexual identity that I did not want…a temptation that I thought defined me. Basically, I came to the realization that temptation defines no one! Temptation simply became an opportunity to renew my mind and to do that, I simply had to change the way I thought by putting off the lies of the enemy and putting on the truth of who Father God says I am.
We always have a choice as to what we think and how we think. When I learned to change my thoughts - take them captive and replace them with God’s Word - my feelings began to change…and then my behaviors began to change…and then I came to the point of understanding that I could be as free in this life as I wanted to be by simply seeking Jesus.
I can change the way I feel and the way I behave by changing the way I think. Every feeling I have can be traced back to a thought I have had. In a sense, I was disoriented in my old way of thinking and I had my orientation changed by thinking the thoughts my Father has for me. Like when one goes to the beach and gets overrun by a wave and finding oneself being tossed and rolled around in that wave without being able to tell what is up and what is down. Disoriented. How did I find my true orientation? By standing up on the solid ground beneath my feet and fixing my eyes on the beach! When we get disoriented, we reorient ourselves by fixing our eyes on something true. Long story made short, I can be as free as want to be in this life by fixing my eyes on Jesus.
When Jesus set me free, He simply opened my eyes to the realization that I had my eyes fixed on the wrong thing. I had fixed my eyes and my thoughts on the lies of the enemy…and I could not tell up from down, wrong from right in relation to my true identity. Keeping my eyes and mind fixed on Jesus has led me into not only a different identity but has given me grace to endure persecution, sorrow, physical pain, mental anguish, and even the foggy mental world I am now experiencing with Parkinson’s Disease. I and as free as I want to be in spite of my past, present, or future failures and temptations. I am free because I know who and Whose I am.
1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
And He reached down to me and heard my cry.
2 He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the mud;
And He set my feet on a rock, making my footsteps firm.
3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
Many will see and fear
And will trust in the LORD.
Psalm 40:1-3 NASB
I want to share the story behind a song of mine called Make me More Free. This song came to me on June 1, 1996. For several weeks, my pastor had been teaching us from the book of Colossians – basically leading us into greater depths of grace and freedom in Christ. From my perspective, his sermons were loved-filled challenges to put off the old and to rise up and walk in our new and true identity as the sons and daughters of Almighty God. On this particular Saturday evening (at this time we met in the YMCA on Saturdays because another church used it on Sunday!), I began to receive the song as soon as my pastor began speaking. I had received the entire song by the time he had concluded his teaching! Since that time, God has used it as a personal inspiration for me to continue to walk in my truest identity in Him.
It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 NASB
The truth is, as long as we occupy these earthly bodies, we will have moments when we need to be set free from something. My personal point of view is simple: I am never too old to learn something new and I can always stand to be a little more free in my identity in Christ. There will always be little vestiges of our old identity clinging to our minds. That is why we must daily renew our minds and daily remove every single thread of the grave clothes we used to wear in our former identities. We are new creations and God’s mercies are new every morning. We just need to be quick to kick the clinging little lies of the enemy to the curb and put on the truth of who Father God says we are. The bottom line is this: freedom looks good on you!
Dennis Jernigan
To hear The Dennis Jernigan Podcast version of this blog and to hear the song, Make Me More Free, go to http://podcast.dennisjernigan.com/e/make-me-more-free/
Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2014/12/02/11/21/prison-553836_1280.jpg