Before Lifeway Church’s Freedom series, if you would have asked me to define Freedom I would have answered from a patriotic sense. I would have said that Freedom means we are free to worship God and to witness to others without any consequences. We are a free nation, free to make our own choices about our life and family. We are free to do whatever makes us happy.
The world’s answer to being free is to do what it takes to make you happy. There is advertising and talk shows with advice on how to be happy. We are shown time and time again that happy people are healthier, they are more productive, and they provide a more stable environment for their spouse and children. Some, however, take making themselves happy too far, and forget basic right/wrong principles.
I have been hyper-sensitive to this. I have known in my own mind that instead of seeking my own happiness, I should seek God’s will for me, and that in the end, His Will will be what makes me happy. The problem is that I don’t always follow God’s will for my life. I want to, but sin gets in the way, and I feel unworthy of being happy.
I worry about what people think, and how I portray myself to others. In a crowd or at church, I strive to fit in and disappear, so that I won’t have that “one thing” that sticks out in people’s minds, something that might be annoying or make me seem like an idiot. Even if I do something good, I don’t really want to be recognized, because I worry about what others are going to say about me in the car on their way home.
What I have learned in this Freedom Series is that I can be free from my past hurts, and that it took dredging up that past and realizing that the past and those hurts have really played a major part in my present life. I have learned that I have a performance addiction to work hard, and to fit in at church and at home with friends and family, so that I can get the approval of others, so they won’t go home and talk about me and how lazy I am. However, the most important thing that I have learned is that it’s okay to have these weaknesses. I still have sin in my life, and I have to continually ask for forgiveness, but its okay, I can still allow myself to be happy.
You see, the world is right; we need to seek out our own “happy”. God intended for us to be happy. In Jeremiah 29:11 He says, ”For I now the plans that I have for you,..plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” .. not for calamity .. God intended for us to be happy. To be happy and free, we have to depend squarely on God. He is the root of all Happiness. However, being happy is an action, like a verb. It is a choice, not a result. I now have the freedom to be happy!
The world’s answer to being free is to do what it takes to make you happy. There is advertising and talk shows with advice on how to be happy. We are shown time and time again that happy people are healthier, they are more productive, and they provide a more stable environment for their spouse and children. Some, however, take making themselves happy too far, and forget basic right/wrong principles.
I have been hyper-sensitive to this. I have known in my own mind that instead of seeking my own happiness, I should seek God’s will for me, and that in the end, His Will will be what makes me happy. The problem is that I don’t always follow God’s will for my life. I want to, but sin gets in the way, and I feel unworthy of being happy.
I worry about what people think, and how I portray myself to others. In a crowd or at church, I strive to fit in and disappear, so that I won’t have that “one thing” that sticks out in people’s minds, something that might be annoying or make me seem like an idiot. Even if I do something good, I don’t really want to be recognized, because I worry about what others are going to say about me in the car on their way home.
What I have learned in this Freedom Series is that I can be free from my past hurts, and that it took dredging up that past and realizing that the past and those hurts have really played a major part in my present life. I have learned that I have a performance addiction to work hard, and to fit in at church and at home with friends and family, so that I can get the approval of others, so they won’t go home and talk about me and how lazy I am. However, the most important thing that I have learned is that it’s okay to have these weaknesses. I still have sin in my life, and I have to continually ask for forgiveness, but its okay, I can still allow myself to be happy.
You see, the world is right; we need to seek out our own “happy”. God intended for us to be happy. In Jeremiah 29:11 He says, ”For I now the plans that I have for you,..plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” .. not for calamity .. God intended for us to be happy. To be happy and free, we have to depend squarely on God. He is the root of all Happiness. However, being happy is an action, like a verb. It is a choice, not a result. I now have the freedom to be happy!
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