The expression “free as a bird” is both a wonderful expression and a wonderful feeling. But as we all know it’s just a saying and that feeling is only temporary because before too long, just like gravity we’re dragged back down to earth.
Jesus said “So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free”- John 8:36.
But what has imprisoned us and how does Jesus set us free?
Maybe you woke up this morning and you can’t believe what you did the night before. Or maybe you feel that your life has become a constant stream of mistakes, you feel so ashamed and you’re full of regrets.
But, listen to what God thinks about it.
I, the LORD, invite you to come and talk it over. Your sins are scarlet red, but they will be whiter than snow or wool – Isaiah 1:18
It starts almost from childhood, the search for that something. But all our searches have or will end in a dead end because that something we are searching for, has already been prepared by God for us and it can never be found here, everything else is a cheap imitation
God has always had something prepared for us, something so wonderful it’s beyond our imaginations.
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” – 1 Corinthians 2:9
These current times may seem to be the darkest that we have witnessed in a long time. Some are wondering, is there even a spark of hope?
For thousands of years the generations lived in darkness and suddenly there was finally light.
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
Isaiah 9:2
It’s another new year, you know the drill: the new resolutions and promises to yourself, the “I’m going to do better this time.” New self-help books, Google searches and podcasts on how we can change and improve. But we probably have already failed at changing again and maybe we just give up. If we’re honest, we are desperate for a change, to be anything but us. Is there a way to truly change and to be happy with whom God has called us to be?
If you asked people what the first Christmas was about, some would answer with reverence, some grudgingly, or others even with a sneer but the answers probably would not all be about “presents.” Instead, the answers would be about an event, the advent, or coming of Someone. Somewhere along the line Christmas became misunderstood.
The misunderstanding about Christmas is that it is not about presents, it’s about Presence.
Have you ever had the frustrating experience of your car being stuck in the mud or snow. We spin and try rocking the car and try pushing and just when it seems like it’s free, it slides back or it goes a couple feet and gets stuck in another rut. There is a life experience that can feel the exact same way, we feel like we are “spinning our wheels”.
Can God change all this, could He not only free us from the spinning rut we’re in but also change our character so we aren’t so drawn to return to that behavior?
Maybe all of us feel that at least some part of our life was wasted. A season when we were young that spent unwisely or maybe it was years of chasing after fame and fortune and we look back and know it was all for nothing. Wisdom and regret can often go hand in hand, haven’t we all thought “I wish I knew then what I know now”?
But what if we are old, maybe even at the end of our lives and we know most of that life was wasted and there is no going back to change things, what can be done?
We can all agree, life is hard and we are faced with times when we feel apart, alone and unloved. Challenges in living each day ‘to the best of our ability,’ can overcome and smother us. We wonder, does anyone understand? Is it even worth the effort to keep going? Does God care what happens to me at this point? Does he really love me?
For some of us, faith in God may be pretty wishy-washy. Maybe at one point in our life we believed in Jesus and all the promises about Him but now, we say we don’t believe in that, we say “How could I have ever believed in that stuff!”.
Does God still communicate with His creation? Does He care enough about us that He wants a relationship with us just like any father does with his children? Or has He created us and left us to our own devices, never to be heard from again? Thankfully there is hope. God still loves us and speaks to anyone that wants to hear Him.
That phone call everyone dreads, a loved one’s bad news. Would you still answer the phone if you knew that it was bad news, and it would change the course of your life? One woman answered that phone and God faithfully walked with her through all the ups and downs that followed.
Have you ever thought or maybe heard someone else say “I’ve tried praying and it didn’t work” or “God never answers my prayers”? Why does it seem that God doesn’t hear our prayers?
You may be familiar with The Ghost of Christmas Past from the Charles Dickens novella, “A Christmas Carol,” one of the three ghosts that haunt a man during Christmas.
In the same way we may have “ghosts” that haunt us. Maybe it is every Christmas when memories start to flood back and we start to dread the holiday, and once again, we’re “haunted.”
Do you feel like you’ve been in a spiritual winter?
Maybe it seems like it’s been years and you have no hope that it will ever get better.
You need your own “spring,” a reality of refreshment and renewal. But where does that renewal come from?