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“How free do you feel right this minute? If you are like me the answer to that question depends on how you perceive your life is going at that moment.”
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 64.
Isn’t it strange how so much of what we view as important in life is so often based on how we feel? Love has been reduced to and is so often measured by the way in which we feel. Lose that feeling and it is so hard to believe that that love, once so intense, was ever real.
The same goes for freedom. I’d be willing to bet that if your bank account is full, if you are gainfully employed and/or if your important relationships are firing on all cylinders right now, you might be enjoying one of the most freedom based times in your life. How free would you feel if one or more of those situations in your life were to go by the wayside?
This is in no way an attempt to shame you into thinking differently if your life is really something that brings you a lot of freedom. Frankly, I’m jealous and, at the same time, hope it stays that way for you. Reality is I know that it won’t and for that I am saddened and truly sorry.
It isn’t that feelings are to be weeded out of our life. They just can’t be. And, thank God they can’t. Feelings are such beautiful and powerful part of the human existence. It is when we trust our feelings in ways they were never intended to be trusted that trouble comes our way. This is such the case when feelings are linked to the issue of freedom in one’s life.
Trying to gauge our freedom using how we feel about the circumstances we find ourselves in at any given moment is such a victim thinker’s way of living life. Circumstances always change. If we base our ability to live free on how we feel about what is going on in our lives, we will find ourselves in times of great disappointment. As I have said many times, when we face prolonged periods or repeated times of disappointment, victim thinking is sure to follow.
Freedom has to be measured using a plumb line that is much more consistent and reliable than how we are feeling. Check out what the Apostle Paul says about freedom in today’s Bible reading.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 (NIV)
The book of Galatians is often called the freedom book in the Bible. It was written by a man who faced more trials and was imprisoned the majority of the time he spent in ministry. Here's a guy writing the definitive Biblical book about freedom when so much of his time was spent in ways we would find it difficult to feel like we were free. How can that be?
I believe it is because Paul had a different plumb line when it came to freedom. He didn't trust his feelings when it came to such an important issue. Good thing - I'm sure that it was hard to feel free when he was shackled to a cold wall in prison. No, Paul measured his freedom from a different perspective - the Blood of Christ.
According to our reading today, Paul warns us to not be burdened by any yoke that leads to slavery. I believe that our feelings can be such a yoke, particularly when it comes to freedom. Believing that we must feel free in order to be free is a prison sentence that God never intended for us to have.
It doesn't matter what kind of worldly bondage you will come against today - you are free! It is because of what Christ did on the cross that we all are free in ways that defy feelings. As God's Child, bask in the freedom Jesus purchased for us and don't let feelings or anything else in this world stop you from living out the fullness of the victor God see you as today.
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