THE COURAGE TO LIVE FREE

“O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

It takes courage to live free!  In the USA today, we could replace the last line of the National Anthem to say “O’er the land of the afraid, and the home of safety.”  The true definition of a great society is providing a place where people are free.  We stopped being a courageous people and have followed other fallen societies into the quagmire of enslavement to our baser nature.  Fear is our base nature.  

If someone were to ask me what is the greatest advantage of living in the Kingdom of God, I would tell them; living free!

It takes a lot of courage to trust God.  It takes even more courage to live free of fear, but that is what Christ purchased for us on the cross of Calvary.  As we mature in our faith, fear is replaced with love, and worry is replaced with trust. The Spirit led life is a life of courage, bravery, and nobility.  The carnal nature cowers in the dark, huddles shaking with fear in the middle of the pack, and follows the crowd, even if it means surrendering their freedom.  The carnal nature yearns for safety, while the Spirit led life yearns for freedom to love as Christ loved.  It takes great courage to love.  One of the most common examples of this is when couples are dating and everyone knows they should get married, but one or both of them is “afraid of commitment.”Simply put, they are afraid to really love.  It’s easy to have sexual relations with someone, but it takes courage to commit yourself to someone for a lifetime. The Kingdom of God is the courage to love, and it is by the Spirit that we are able to live free to love.  In 2nd Corinthians 3:17 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

It takes immense courage to follow Christ!  When we are born again, God’s Spirit makes us a new creation. The new creation no longer lives in fear of death, or punishment, but lives for love, and goodness. I’ve been in so many churches where the leadership felt the need to hammer people into their own image by using the fear of the rapture as their hammer, and the fear of hell as their anvil. I have to believe they meant well, but it quickly devolves into a religion of touch not, taste not, and look not. They become enslaved again to a form of legalism, bound up by chains of fear. This form of religion is exactly what Christ warned the disciples about when he said ‘whoever wants to be great among you must be a servant, and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of everyone else.’ (Mark 10:43-44 paraphrasing mine).  It takes courage to live for others first, but it is the only way to be truly free.  

I’m sure being a world leader must look attractive, especially to those who have been at the bottom of the social ladder most of their lives.  It’s easy to think that they can do whatever they want, say whatever they want, and go wherever they want, but nothing is further from the truth.  It has been my experience that those who want great power, live in great fear.  Look at all the handlers surrounding our own President.  Look at the Secret Service agents it takes to protect our President.  Our own President surrounds himself with advisors, and political advisors who direct his every move.  The powerful eventually become enslaved by fear. At no time in history was this more evident than at the time of Christ’s crucifixion.  

Christ challenged the religious leaders of the day, pointing out their fears. He revealed their lives of fear and the bonds of public approval.  In return, they appealed to their captors, the Romans, to help them get rid of Christ. Even Pilate found himself giving into the will of the crowd when he gave the choice of freeing Christ, or Barabbas. The carnal nature is defined by fear, while the Kingdom is defined by courage.  Walking by following Holy Spirit is a life of freedom!  (Romans 8) Paul made it even clearer in Galatians chapter 5 (please read the whole chapter)

The carnal nature of fear is expressed in:

Sexual immorality (fear of missing out on something or someone to fulfill your pleasure)

Impurity (fear of doing the right thing)

Debauchery (fear of being alone)

Idolatry and sorcery (fear of being powerless)

Hatred (fear of others being better than you)

Discord (fear of more than one person being better than you)

Jealousy (fear of others being valued more than you)

Rage (fear of the knowledge that you aren’t the one in control)

Rivalries (giving your fear of being like everyone else to someone else)

Divisions, (fear of being united with someone)

Factions, (giving your fear of being united to someone else with the same fear)

Envy (fear that someone else has something you don’t)

Fearful people will seek out other fearful people, get drunk in their fear, submit to sexual perversions in fear, and give in to every kind of debasing behavior to mask the fear) Murder, theivery, deceit, and destruction are all symptoms of fear. 

BUT,,,,,

The Kingdom of God is; 

LOVE (the courage to put someone else above ourselves)

Joy (the courage to express our happiness with what we’ve been given)

Peace (the courage to be at one with our creator, ourselves, and others)

Patience (the courage to defer judgment, criticality, and fear)

Kindness (the courage to give others what we would want)

Goodness (the courage to share our glories, victories, and honors with others)

Faithfulness, (the courage to live courageously no matter what we face)

Gentleness (the courage to lay aside our strength, power, and prestige for others)

Self-Control (The courage to do what is right even when we know we are afraid)

If we go back to Romans 8:1 we can understand the courage it takes to live free. Those who seek power and to enslave others will be the most fearful among us.  The tool of enslavement is CONDEMNATION!!!! In today’s world we see it in the rebirth of racism, gender politics, and especially in social media.  I’m always amazed by those who preach the new religion of ‘identity’ and the hypocrisy they get away with.  Social Media has given rise to what is called the tyranny of the majority and all dissent is condemned by mindless millions who like nothing more than to pile on the weak. John Adams warned against it when our nation was being formed, and now we see it in all of its ugliness through social constructs. It will take courage if we are to bring the Kingdom of God to earth.  Holy Spirit gives us that courage if we will learn to trust HIM.Throughout history, the Kingdom of God has been resisted, and its citizens killed for preaching it. Still, it has advanced despite persecution.  Love conquers fear.