Many manner of things would, and
indeed do, enslave us within this life; those things we are bonded to besides a
dependence on God, alone. Yet, a great paradox is wrapped up in much of this,
because we are so apt to confuse freedom for slavery. Because of guilt, or some
warped sense of shame, and perhaps a little lack of self-control, we view as
slavery those things we are free to do.
The apostle Paul went to great
lengths, in his letter to the Galatians, to expound freedom; a freedom in grace
beyond the yoke of slavery we so easily fall back into:
“For
freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again
to a yoke of slavery.”
~Galatians 5:1 (NRSV)
The day after Resurrection Sunday
is the precipice upon which we may freshly understand: those, each of us, now
raised are free.
Enjoying The Open Life
The open life, that copious
abundance ever before us, the one with bounteous blessing, presents itself
today, afresh, for our fundamental enjoyment. This is not a world entrapped of
sin; that limited, negative world. This is a world full of hope and purpose and
meaning and potential. The open life is the world of virtue and this world is
bigger, strangely enough, than the world of vice.
It’s not our natural inclination
to see this way, however. We need different lenses.
The problem we face, which is the
problem we’ve always faced, is we see so much of what we cannot do—what, by law
or conscience, we’re not allowed to do. But, just as equally, there is vision
of the copious abundance of the things we can do; things we can rightly enjoy.
Take the Vista.
Imagine overlooking a great misty lake, a sunset, or a quiet starry night. Such
a view is free. It’s a metaphor for the open life. And the open life has God’s
blessing resting upon it.
The skill of the open life is our
decree of focus. Our opportunity is to focus on freedom, not slavery. Our focus
is the opportunity to enjoy, not loath. Our opportunity is what we focus
on—that bringing death or that bringing life. God loves us so much he gives us
the choice. With our logical minds we superintend the choice. We choose for
freedom over slavery.
***
When we’re raised in Christ,
redeemed from death to sin, freed from the yoke of slavery, we’re saved forever
more. There’s no need to look back. Instead we enjoy this copiously abundant
open life. We enjoy it with God’s blessing.
© 2012 S. J. Wickham.
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