Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Monday February 22, 2010

The life lived with true zest for the Lord and the things of God, is a life that is often defined as "shackle free." I agree that Christ in redemption does in fact set the captive free. We can and should as says the Word in Isaiah 40:31:

"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

This verse makes it plain that the life worth living is to lived free. Not free from responsibility, but free to pursue the will of our creator in harmony with His divine plan for us. The person with renewed strength is then free from fatigue; the one on wings of eagles is free to soar as does the eagle, one of nature's most responsible creatures. The truly free person runs the race persistently, and does not quit when life seems to creep along in a walk.

The runners of that day and until fairly modern times ran naked in order to avoid entanglement. Paul warns us in Timothy as good soldiers to avoid entanglement.

A writer from the sixteenth century, a strange man, yet insightful in some areas commented on a problem then and a major one now in century 21. Juan de Yepes Alvarez wrote:

"The soul that is attached to anything however much good there may be in it, will not arrive at the liberty of divine union. For whether it be a strong wire rope or a slender and delicate thread that holds the bird, it matters not, if it really holds it fast; for, until the cord be broken the bird cannot fly."

I was struck by the phrase, "Until the cord be broken the bird cannot fly." Many is the marriage where the man cannot fly due to unbroken apron strings. Many the preacher that cannot fly due to "strong ties" to an area or group. You get the idea.

An old ditty often repeated in Bible School circles posits, "Where he leads me I will follow, what he feeds me I swallow." Yet the ministry suffers today due to an unbreakable tie to some person or thing. The list of things, events, places and persons, that bind God's people to earth when we could/should be "mounting up with eagle's wings is endless." Yet Christ wants us free. Do we want His freedom?

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2010 Use with Credit

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