The Cost of Freedom

Posted July 20th, 2013 at 3:42 pmNo Comments Yet

The Cost of Freedom
 Cyndi Cloud
Have you heard the one about the chickens & the eagles?
A farmer was raising baby chickens and eagles, so he put them together in his chicken coup.  As the little birds got bigger they eventually were allowed to venture out into the chicken yard, but only for a while, because it was unsafe for the baby chicks, they may get eaten by larger birds of prey.
The farmer was very careful not to allow the chicks too much freedom lest they go astray.  One day the chicks having turned into full grown birds were out enjoying their freedom in the beautiful sunshine, when they noticed these large soaring birds flying way overhead.  The birds seemed to be glorious and majestic, and they were calling out to the birds in the yard.
Come up higher!  Come up higher with us!
The young eagles watched as all the chickens fled into the barn to hide from these birds, but they didn’t understand why they were so afraid.  As the eagles soared up higher & higher the young eagles longed for such freedom & such wings to fly away into the clouds.  But alas they saw themselves as all the other birds in the yard.  Suddenly they too became afraid and ran into the barn pleading with the other birds to protect them.
Alas, the eagles called out to them once again in the hope that the young eagles would stretch out their wings, fly out of the yard, and become the true eagles they were created to be.
Sadly, the young eagles stayed with the chickens never knowing what is was like to truly fly.
I am always puzzled by people who talk incessantly about being free and yet don’t ever seem to be able to find that illusive freedom.  What they don’t understand is that freedom costs.  The cost for freedom is very high, most of the time someone has to die to pay for the precious freedom we so readily take for granted.
Why do people stay in bondage rather than simply walking into the new light or freedom?  Don’t they want to be free?  Isn’t this the very cry of their hearts, to be free from all the old pain and torture of their past experiences? Yes, but there are many reasons why we find it difficult to implement freedom into our lives.  Let me address a few of those reasons for you.
Reason #1 – pride.  You say how can someone’s pride keep them from freedom?  Well lets look at another group of people who had problems with an eternal consequence,  the Pharisees & the Sadducees.  Here is a group of men who were unable to except their very own Messiah, the one they had been waiting for, for centuries, because of their pride.  You see, these men were completely convinced that their way of worship and all the laws they had made were the best forms of worship the earth had to offer.  They kept every “jot & title’ to the complete fulfillment of their laws and there was no way they could bend to receive a Messiah like Him. They became the ultimate example of all history in their un-teach-ability.  They became unable to receive instruction from anyone else, even their own Messiah.
Consequently, they were blinded by their own pride, and they were causing all who listened to them & followed them to miss out on the blessing as well.  But for their pride, they could have seen the false logic of their thinking and walked completely into all the promises of God, that were laid up for the heirs of Abraham.  Joy, peace and righteousness in the Holy Spirit were denied to those who would not bend the knee and die to their own plans & ways.  Pride kept these men from their very hearts desires ~ freedom.  Do you only surround yourself with people who are less spiritual than you, so you may feel important?  Are you teachable?
Another reason people don’t walk into the light of freedom is out of fear.  Fear is a powerful weapon the enemy uses to keep us all in bondage.  Tyrants who rule by fear are in the same class as Hitler & Sadam Hussein.  These rulers keep their people loyal by fear tactics, and threats.  Some even go so far as to torture their own, to keep them under their thumbs.  This type of leader keeps the lie of submission to their authority always in the thoughts of their people, and they are often found berating those who try to leave as worthless or weak individuals or worse, they sabotage them.
Why do people stay with these kinds of abusive leaders or relationships?  Why does an abused woman stay with the one who is abusing her?
I’ll tell you.  One is because they are afraid, and the other is because they are loyal.  Tyrants like these keep lies perpetuated to keep their followers under their control.  And women who keep staying in these abusive situations are mostly loyal, and forgiving towards those who abuse.  There is always the hollow and sometimes heart felt apology from the abuser, and if you are a forgiving person, you feel guilty about trying to get away from someone who has asked for your apology and promises that things will be different in the future.
You would think freedom was a good thing to be welcomed, a cause for rejoicing, but alas many see events from their own colored glasses.  Isn’t Babylon falling and freedom coming to the Middle East a wonderful event to be celebrated?  And yet, we hear everyday from those who are against the war, and continue to berate those who would seek to set the captives free.
The same goes for those who would seek to set people free from their own burdens or worse yet, give the people an alternative way to worship, with more freedoms and less control.  WOW!  Talk about backlash!  Most people don’t really want to make the hard choices it takes to truly walk in freedom.  And even more people refuse to believe they are with the wrong crowd, no matter how much prayer & effort they have put into the organization.
Let’s take a look at the transition period in Israel between the Kingdom’s of King Saul & King David.  We come to the point in history where David was anointed King by Samuel the prophet, and Saul is still King.  It took a period of 10 years for the Lord to make the transition and to get David ready to be King.  But it is the people who I want us to look at.
Saul was displeasing to the Lord and was being tormented by an evil spirit, and became a selfish ruler.  And in Saul’s kingdom were the followers of Israel, some who were very faithful & loyal, sincerely seeking God and keeping His commandments, yet they did not perceive the switch in Godly authority until the last minute.  They stayed under the old leadership until the very last minute, then they came into the new, in droves.
My point is this:  Don’t you want to live in the freedom God has provided for you?  Why are we trapped in the old ways, the old traditions, the old burnt ashes of our lives? Rise up & come into the Light of Christ ~ become the eagle you were created to be.  Don’t be so proud of your choices in life that it keeps you from true freedom when it knocks on your door.  Are you willing to waste this precious life always hoping that the people around you will finally get on with the plan, or see things differently.  It has been my experience that those whom we are waiting on to change, rarely do.
John 3: 16-21
Says:  “For God so loved the world . . .for God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, . . .and this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
Each one of us must look to our own hearts and allow God to shine His light into every crack and corner of our lives.  We must be willing to make the hard decisions in life to “stand up” and “take courage”, and align ourselves with the eagles, who will help us soar and become more and more free with every year.
The cost of freedom is high, higher than you may think.  Your relationships may have to change.  You may have to reconsider the reasons you are attending the place of worship you have chosen.  Some of you may need to get the ashes of your old dead history out of your thoughts to find true peace and freedom.
The scriptures teach us many explicatives that encourage us in our walk with Christ.  Flee sexual immorality, resist the devil, put on the armor, beware, etc.  . . . but when it comes to freedom it tells us to:
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”
Gal. 5:1
“Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord.”
Psalm 31: 24
“When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.”
Acts 28: 15
Stand Fast, be of good courage, and take courage, these are words of action.  We must flee sexual immorality, ~ run away ~ but when it comes to courage & freedom ~ Stand! ~ Take it!
Many of us derail our own lives from walking in the place of freedom Christ Jesus has already died and paid the price for you to have.  You are already free in Him, but because of social obligations, family ties and various other choices we all make, many of us are still bound by the people & things of this world.
Be free, my sisters and brothers! Come into the light Jesus has prepared for you to walk in.  Don’t be like a chicken but like the eagles who soar above all this world has to offer.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
2 Cor. 5: 17
Have ALL things become new in your life?

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