Today, I am sitting at my desk looking out of my third-story window overlooking the Rocky Mountains. I find myself today so filled with awe and vision for the future. So much so, that it’s sort of difficult to even focus on today and my to-do list.
I wonder how many of you feel that way? Are you excited about the future? Filled with awe and vision?
Yesterday: Boundaries are meant to give us freedom, not tie us down. It’s all about how we view God.
We Christians always give the greatest advice. Like when someone is struggling with an addiction, what is usually our response? “Why don’t you just quit?” - Oh… great. Thank you, I never thought of that one! A distant mentor of mine (someone that has influenced me a lot but I have never met him) Matt Chandler of The Village Church in Texas made an analogy once that has always stuck with me.
If an alcoholic decides he’s going to just quit drinking and on Monday doesn’t touch the bottle. But everything in his soul is craving alcohol, he can’t work, he can’t sleep, he can’t focus, he can’t relate to his wife, he can’t play with his children because everything in him is screaming for alcohol… Is he free? No!!! Just because he didn’t have a drink of alcohol on Monday doesn’t make him free.
Blind obedience isn’t always the answer. Your check list of rules, may have no other purpose than to fuel your own self-righteousness.
Mere obedience gets you no where. Jesus (Matt 23) called the Pharisees whitewashed tombs because they looked great on the outside but they were dead on the inside. He also said in Matthew 5:20 that if your righteousness doesn’t exceed that of the Pharisees then how can you ever expect to get to Heaven?
Here’s how: Galatians 5:1 - It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.
Don’t get me wrong… there are still boundaries we are expected and commanded to follow. But we aren’t slaves to the law. We are no longer tied down by the law but are freed in Christ. So… Is God tying you down or setting you free?
Now… obedience isn’t a requirement of God, it’s a response to God.
That was the title of my sermon today. Talking not about freedom away from boundaries but the freedom boundaries give us.
We recently bought a play pen (glorified cage) for my son who is now crawling like crazy and we need something to keep him from getting in trouble or hurt so my wife and I can do other things around the house. To my son, in his little mind, the play pen represents boundaries that tie him down and prevent him from doing what he wants to. What he doesn’t realize, is that by placing him in those boundaries, I am giving him complete and total freedom. Within those boundaries there is nothing Beckett can do wrong.
How do you view boundaries in your life? Do they tie you down? Keep you from doing what you want? Or do they give you freedom?
How do you view God? As some old man in the sky telling you what you can’t do? As some cosmic-killjoy? Or do you see Him as a loving God who created you, created the world around you and has put boundaries in your life to protect you and to give you freedom?
Galatians 5:1 - It is for freedom that Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Well, it’s late and I’m tired. So much prep the night before we take our student ministry to summer camp. I don’t know whether I will have internet access or not. If I do, I will try my best to keep you updated and give you the highlights of camp. If not, then I will when I return on Saturday.
However, I will be updating frequently my twitter. You can follow me @adamdeanyoung.
Have a great week and get some extra rest for me, cause I know I won’t be getting any!
You know… I think many of us have those “God moments” when we experience something and become very confident in what God is calling us to do. I had one of those almost a year ago when I first began talking to the church I now work for. I knew, maybe not from an audible voice, but definitely knew that God was leading me here to Colorado. I have never doubted that call and felt like I was home from day one. I felt like I was “finally planted” in the place God wanted me.
Today, however, was a complete spiritual confirmation of that call. Like I said, I never once doubted that I was supposed to be here but today, I just received a huge confirmation from God and a re-energizing of passion for the reason God planted me and my family here.
I hope that you can say the same for your life. That you are where God wants you to be and that maybe today He would give you one of those special and sometimes rare, “spiritual confirmations.”
Okay, so… I think I am going to make some kind of mid-year resolution to quit using “busyness” and “tiredness” as excuses…..
…. (Awkward silence) ….
… but not today. I am crazy busy because this is the week before we take our students to summer camp. So I am not sharing any deep, thought provoking ideas today. Here are some more blogs I have been reading lately and added to my google reader within the last month. Enjoy!
