Paul Was Free

10.26.2010

Acts 26:32 32 And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

To which I would have responded, “Yes. O Agrippa, but he wouldn’t make it twenty-for hours because of the Jews that wanted to kill him!” Freedom for Paul wasn’t the best option because for one, he was already free in Christ and he had explicit instructions from the Lord to speak to the Emperor in Rome – one Nero.

Imagine today if caught up in the bureaucracy of it all one of us was being sent to the Supreme Court to testify to the madness in our legal system. Imagine if through all of the red-tape and regulation if one of us had the opportunity to address a joint session of Congress and tell them the truth about Jesus and the truth about governing and leadership. Imagine through false accusation and hearsay that one of us was to speak directly to the president and share what Jesus Christ has to say about agendas. Paul was free but he wasn’t free to just take off, he was under orders to get to Rome and speak to the highest ranking individual in the then known world about the Only true and living God.

Christians are already free. I am not free to just do whatever; I am free to sit and listen to the Lord and then go and do whatever it is He commands me to do. What a difference it would make if we all believed that. I cannot be set free unless God sets me free and I cannot be free unless the Spirit sets me free indeed. Freedom is not my ability to call the shots; freedom is the gift to know and obey God.

Father in Heaven,
You have set me free and with that freedom is the freedom to follow You and supersedes what the world says I can or cannot do. True freedom is true relationship with You; and true relationship with You is true love and true love is my obeying what You command – thank You for making me free – in Christ, amen.