Freedom indeed.

Today, I've been thinking about freedom.

It's a no-brainer that the world isn't truly living in freedom when it doesn't even know its own need for it.

Flashback to pre-Jesus Ericka (suffering from depression and "functional" alcoholism, mind you), who would have laughed if someone told her she was stuck in bondage.

Insert the shrug emoji here. 

But my current intention is to remind all of us of the true freedom we have in Jesus. It's whythis versehits home.

ThePassion Translation(although that's a misnomer...it very much is a personal paraphrase and one that is quite contentious. But in this particular instance, I do think it's effective and right on the money) puts it this way:

"And you did not receive the 'spirit of religious duty,' leading you back into the fear of never being good enough. But you have received the 'Spirit of full acceptance,' enfolding you into the family of God. And you will never feel orphaned, for as he rises up within us, our spirits join him in saying the words of tender affection, “Beloved Father!”

I lived with a "spirit of religious duty" for quite a while (says the former atheist...let's throw in another shrug emoji for good measure).  And I think I've gotten to the root of why a lot of us fall into this particular pit:

• Sometimes, serving our church family is more fulfilling (not to mention easier!) than caring for our actual ones. If you live with mom guilt because things "aren't the way they're supposed to be," how easy it is to do something you're "good at" and get praised for, even if your own home is on fire (ask me how I know).
• Some of us are people pleasers and think the word "no" is quite ugly (even though we secretly pray we can use it one day. Shhh....).
• Some of us are type A (high five to my fellow type A-ers!) and figure that we're pretty much the only people on the planet who can do anything halfway competently, so we might as well just sign up for whatever ministry needs "fixing." This leads me to what we recently covered in Acts at our church.Paul leaves Priscilla and Aquilain Ephesus so they can lead the ministry there, even though he was probably a better fit for the job (because he's Paul. I mean, have you met the guy??). Some of us sometimes have the gross and very human need to put our own stamp of approval on EVERYTHING, even though God may be nudging someone else to fill that same coveted role.

I've learned my lesson. I've learned ministry is the everyday caring for and loving of my family (the very first priority God has asked me to steward well). I've also learned that it's intentional, often slowly paced, and doesn't often look as fancy as baptizing hundreds of people and making sure all the chairs are filled with rear ends on Sunday.

It doesn't look like one person's vision after reading the latest popular "Christian" non-fiction book on creating the "perfect" church.

It's us. It's the people being Jesus to one another and loving God with our whole hearts, giving Him the credit and Him only.

And that is freedom indeed.