Freedom

I’ll gladly sport my red, white and blue on the 4th of July, but there are many other days of the year that I take my freedom for granted.  It isn’t until a neighbor returns from a tour overseas or a friend kisses her son goodbye as he heads to Iraq that I remember the cost others have paid for my freedom.  Regardless of our nationality, there is a freedom available to all who follow Christ, but Paul warns us that we can forfeit this liberty.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” Colossians 2:8

Captivity, all because of another’s words or human tradition.  It’s the last thing I want in my life, yet God is revealing the extent to which my culture permeates my faith rather than the other way around.  So what are you and I to do?  Go back to our roots.  Colossians 2:6,7 say, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

Am I willing to live all my life in Christ, or will I sacrifice the parts that are convenient to me and overlook the commands that are too challenging?  Does my heart show a desire to weed out the false beliefs that have infiltrated my life and instead be rooted in the One True God?  I’ll use the convicting words of David Platt’s book Radical to magnify this point in just one area of my life.  “Are you and I looking to Jesus for advice that seems fiscally responsible according to the standards of the world around us?  Or are we looking to Jesus for total leadership in our lives, even if that means going against everything our affluent culture and maybe even our affluent religious neighbors might tell us to do?” (page 121). 

I’m scared my honest answer would demonstrate a Col. 2:8 life, rather than one exemplifying Col. 2:6,7.  How about you?