Are you living in freedom?

Are you chained in a prison of your own making?

Maybe you’ve never considered these questions, but what if they are relevant to your life today?

Significance of Rescue

I rescued a frog today. This rescue mission was a significant moment in time…at least for the frog.

Have you been rescued?

Are you living in freedom today?

Today, on our Florida lanai (Northerners call it a screened in porch), a little frog was jumping along the screen, hungrily looking at the world he couldn’t get to. How he was able to access our lanai in the first place will remain a mystery. Even where the screen has some holes, none of them are large enough for a small frog to squeeze through.

As I watched him attempt to find a way through the screen to freedom, I was mesmerized.

Search for Freedom

I thought of how we all search for freedom. We crawl along the edges of our lives to see if there is an escape from the prison of the doldrums and difficulties of our current life. Maybe we are looking out from a dead-end job or a difficult health or financial situation. Perhaps we are just bored with our current surroundings or the life we are presenting living.

Fortunately for us, if we know the Lord, we have already been released⏤set free from our prison. But maybe we haven’t pressed into the freedom available. We can live life on the outside, in the hills and valleys, where life springs forth and where new opportunities exist. But living in freedom takes both surrendering to Jesus and our initiative to pursue freedom.

Our prison was one of sin and the pursuit of life on our own terms, which doesn’t end well. Jesus came to rescue us from our self-directed lives and resulting prison when He died on the cross and rose from the grave.

But, sometimes we choose to remain in our prisons. We continue to look outside the screened-in porch and fantasize about how our life could be so much better if we could just escape.

And all the while, the door is open⏤the rescue has already taken place. But we have chosen to stay in the prison of our own making to our detriment.

Shackles of Slavery

In what ways are we choosing to remain in a prison rather than explore the freedom available?

Maybe for some, we are failing to believe that freedom is really ours for the taking. We may be afraid of the freedom because we have been told all our lives which direction to take.

The idea of getting to choose our own path can be overwhelming, especially when there are so many options available.

Maybe we don’t know how to begin the journey.

Staying right where we are…in our comfort zone…seems safer than venturing out into the unknown. We don’t know what we will find on the other side of the screen, so we limit our dreams. We limit our vision and we remain stuck in our circumstances, our present reality.

Each person must recognize they are stuck in a prison of their own choosing. Perhaps they did not put themselves in the prison or maybe prior choices caused imprisonment. Sadly, we can’t secure freedom for a spouse, child or friend, even when we see the way the prison is squeezing life out of that person. It’s a personal decision to choose freedom.

The lanai was a prison for my little friend, the frog. Just as he was seeking a way out to freedom, our objective should be to venture forth into this unknown life and explore the various options available.

I was able to catch this little frog and release him into the vast unknown world of my backyard. Jesus released us from our prisons of the lesser life and offers us new and abundant life, beyond what we can think or imagine.

But, we must choose to pursue our freedom.

Stepping into Freedom

How can we move forward and consider the life of opportunity we have received as a gift?

Get your journal and think about what you would like to do with your one life, with the freedom Jesus secured for you. Write out these options of adventure, of living in freedom. Pray over them. Discern if any of them fills your heart with yearning.

Now take one or several and consider how you can take one small step in the direction of exploring the idea further. Try it on for size. Does it fit? Do you sense the Lord’s delight as you pursue the next step?

• Don’t shrink back.
• Live this one life as fully as you can, despite the challenges and trials we each face.
• Make a way in the wilderness. Choose your path, maybe the one that’s not as popular.
• Believe the Lord is with you as you journey through your life.
• Build altars along the way that afford you the opportunity to worship the Lord as you see Him reveal Himself and His blessings along the way.

Need more opportunities for Connecting with God? Request the free guide, Reflections for Your Soul.