GALATIANS 5:1   "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore, keep standing firm and do not allow yourselves to be subjected again to a yoke of slavery. " **************************************

The only real freedom you and I will ever experience begins as we submit ourselves to the love of God for us.   Only the acts in which you and I chose to operate as if that love were foundational, defining and everlasting will feel like free ones.  All the other "free" things you or I choose to do will inevitably result in harm to ourselves, harm to those we love, harm to others, harm to our planet and its other residents.  We live in such interdependency in this life that it is impossible for us to take what we want whenever we want it without another having to suffer in some way for that act.         Most of us think that "real freedom" means that our desire for a thing is proof that we somehow have a right to it, that whatever we can pay for or take from another or manipulate others to achieve for us is ours.  We seem caught in the vicious cycle of desiring personal freedom without boundaries of any sort -- the kind of freedom we keep saying "doesn't hurt anybody" -- and afterwards finding ourselves enslaved to those things or the achievements we once so desired.          If in getting and spending, controlling and managing, bargaining and bullying, denying and avoiding, taking and not sharing, we "lay waste our powers" to feel real freedom, we are to be pitied.  We are like the children given the freedom of the candy shop only to wind up either with horrible tummy aches and no one to comfort us (the product of license) or we sit sobbing because we believe we're not really free to eat any of the candy, ever (the product of legalism).          There is another way, a better way to begin to feel free and to enjoy the freedom Another died to grant us; and that is in the context of a loving relationship.

God's will for anyone who believes in HIM is this:        *to be fully alive in Christ, experiencing the joy of their real freedom and the satisfaction of being well loved        *for the purpose of establishing HIS kingdom        *by overcoming the evil one  &        *by embracing the identity HE died to bestow on each of us.

Everything else we do inevitably represents, leads to, or is a consequencce of personal or spiritual bondage, "yoked" to a load too heavy to bear.  (If you wonder where I get this idea, check out these verses:  Romans 8:29; I Thess. 4:3; John 4:34; Phil. 2:13)   True freedom doesn't lie in the exercise of choices, but in the consequences or results of the choices made.  I can know if mine was a free act, a real choice, a true freedom by observing what happens in my life, in the lives of those I love, in the lives of others and even in my environment as as result of that act.   In Christ, we are freed to "reign in life" instead of being chained to a set of Laws to memorize to govern our behavior.  But we can choose to relate to God solely through the old "yoke" of  that law and not through our freedom.  When we do that, the consequence is not freedom, but:       *an experience of all law and every limitation as a curse;       *an experience of God's parameters on our lives as death, not life-bestowing;       *an experience of the Law (and all the reasonable limitations that derive from it) as a stimulant that makes us desire to do what is prohibited.

In Christ, we are no longer slaves to Sin or the Law, but we can relate to God and others as if we still were.  When we do, what we experience is not "sanctuary, safety and rest" in the Holy Spirit, but:         *a sharp fall into licence (doing whatever we want whenever we want to do it with regard to nothing but our own desires)  or       *a plunge into the roaring fire of legalism (trying to do good, be good, be acceptable to God by following a set of rules)

THE "YOKE" OF LICENSE   This is the bondage of those who are:       *lured away by various fleshly impulses that wear some charming disguise of "freedom":       *desirous of knowledge and power, but want to have them apart from an in-love relationship with the Father;       *constantly demanding their "rights" to freedom (instead of their birth-right to a relationship with HIM) and as a consequence choosing evil, but believing it to be good.     THE "YOKE" OF LEGALISM    This is the bondage of driven people:       *motivated largely by guilt;       *measuring ministry or life success by the number of activities or the number of attendees, $$$ grossed or netted, the number of products delivered, etc.;       *measuring spirituality by the expenditure of human energy.    Though working very hard and trying hard and perhaps even achieving very highly, legalists feels anything but free.  They only feel bound to a hopeless cycle of trying to perfect life and never pleasing anyone, not even themselves.

THE "YOKE" OF JESUS        "Come to me all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My load is light."  (Matt.  11:28-30)   *You can't put on the Yoke of Jesus without first taking off the yokes of license and legalism.   *Learning from Jesus is the single thing that the quality of your "rest" depends upon.

THE PRACTICAL CONSEQUENCES FOR THE HEART THAT CHOOSES TO WEAR THE YOKE OF JESUS:                   *free from fear/guilt/worry to feel faith/hope/concern          *free from vested self-interest in the outcome or even the expectations of good response so that every sacrifice of time, talent, effort, etc. is donated to God's use as a free love-gift to HIM                    *free to abandon manipulation of others/circumstances to trust God with all outcomes          *free from the loneliness of a self-as-center perspective to experience the companionship of Jeus in the center of the storm or the service          *free to love as Jesus did, by the same power He used, in the same obedience to the Father, and thus fulfill His great commandment to us and display to the world the only sign of His having marked us as His disciples.   ******************************************        This last bit -- the description of the truly free human heart -- is what I pray will be your experience as you continue to relate to God and to trust in the unchanging, unconditional love HE has for you.  It never changes, no matter what. ************************ (You may publish any articles from this site as they appear with the following byline intact.  Please advise me by e-mail if you decide to use one of these articles on your site or in an e-zine.)      After 30+ years in public ministry as missionary, pastoral counselor, homeschooling mentor, writer and editor, Georgia Ana Larson now focuses on an internet-based ministry and business founded in grace and expressed through mentoring others who have a similar desire to work from home, nurture a family, build a business and stay faithful to a deep interior Call to have a life of devotion expressed in service, no matter what context. You can read more of her articles at her home site:  www.aBrighterCandle.com   Web www.aBrighterCandle.com

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