2023. A new year. And time for a new word. If you know me or have been following my blog for a while, you know that I don’t do New Year’s resolutions. Instead, as each year comes to a close, I start to think and pray about the next year, and ask God to give me a word to frame the new year. Last year that word was discipline, and it certainly was a year that I learned a LOT about discipline. It was a heavy year. So, as I began to pray for the word to frame 2023, the word that came to be was freedom.

Freedom. For me this word conjures visions of empty cells, broken chains, dancing with abandon in the rain, soaring over mountains… It sounds like a wonderful word, but what is freedom really? Deliverance from bondage? A casting off of all restraints? The ability to do whatever we please? I decided to do a little more study to get better acquainted with the word. According to the dictionary:

freedom noun free·​dom ˈfrē-dəm 

1: the quality or state of being free: such as

a: the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action

b: liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another : INDEPENDENCE

c: the quality or state of being exempt or released usually from something onerous

d: unrestricted use

e: EASE, FACILITY

f: the quality of being frank, open, or outspoken

g: improper familiarity

h: boldness of conception or execution

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/freedom

Liberation. Independence. Released. Absence of coersion or constraint. When the word freedom first dropped into my heart, a Scripture passage in Galatians 5 did too, so, I took some time to dig into it. In this passage, the Apostle Paul was reminding the church in Galatia that the foundation of their faith was based on the finished work of Jesus Christ alone, not on anything they could hope to achieve on their own. He was encouraging them to stand fast in the freedom that comes from accepting Christ’s gift of grace, and not get led astray by voices that would teach otherwise. They were to stop trying to be “good enough” by their own merit and I thought about how important this message is for us today as well. We need to stand firm in our freedom!

I love a good word study, so I looked up the Greek word for liberty used in this passage and found that it was the word eleutheria meaning freedom, liberty, self-governance, autonomy, self-determination, sovereignty. There are those words again. But what does freedom look like? Does this mean that we are free to cast off restraint and live however we please? That’s certainly possible, but as a Christ follower, that’s not what this means. Paul goes on to say in verse 13 that we should not use our freedom as an excuse to satisfy our sinful nature. In 1 Cor 6:12 he also wrote “It’s true that our freedom allows us to do anything, but that doesn’t mean that everything we do is good for us. I’m free to do as I choose, but I choose to never be enslaved to anything.” We are free to do as we please, but to live the best life in pursuit of God, choices have to be made.

Stand fast. That command tells me that freedom is more than just walking through a previously locked door. It’s not a passive standing around, but an active perseverance. It’s the fight to keep from going back into the cell from which we were once freed. Why go back? Because it is what is known – it’s familiar. It’s “comfortable”, even if it’s miserable. Standing fast requires discipline and commitment. Paul finishes this chapter in Galatians by telling us how to walk in that freedom. Walk in the Spirit. A daily “walking” – a new way of living. Not in our strength, but relying completely on the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to direct our steps. His power at work in us and empowering us. That kind of walking is going to mean surrendering some things.

So, then true freedom is not found in living a life of complete abandon to our wants, it is found in choosing the things that please God. True freedom is being able to choose, without restraint or coercion, to do what is right, because it is a choice motivated by love. It is a choice made to follow Christ in all things, out of love for the One Who loved us first. And it’s in the exchange of our own will for God’s that we find this freedom. As Christ followers, we leave slavery behind to become His servants. One is bound against their will, the other binds them-self to another by choice.

Freedom is not a quality of man, nor is it an ability, a capacity, a kind of being that somehow flares up in him. Anyone investigating man to discover freedom finds nothing of it. Why? because freedom is not a quality which can be revealed–it is not a possession, a presence, an object, nor is it a form of existence–but a relationship and nothing else. In truth, freedom is a relationship between two persons. Being free means “being free for the other,” because the other has bound me to him. Only in relationship with the other am I free.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Paul often referred to himself as a servant or bond-servant of Christ and he refused to allow himself to become a slave to anything or anyone else. Slavery, in our current culture might seem like a foreign concept, but it would have been well understood to the audience Paul was speaking to, and this illustration would have been significant. Slaves were owned, bought and paid for – often captives taken against their will, had no autonomy, had nothing except what their masters granted them, and were expected to do only what they were commanded. Their very lives were in their masters’ hands and completely under their control. A bond-servant however, was someone granted manumission, but who chose to remain in service to their masters, even after they were freed. We were slaves to sin – bound and controlled by it, but when Jesus paid our debt, He set us free to choose to live a life in love and service to Him. So, when Paul said that he wouldn’t be made a slave to anything, he meant that he needed discipline to stay in the freedom Christ has given, by not allowing his flesh to dictate his actions.

And how did Paul say we could know if we are walking in freedom? Fruit. Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control (Gal. 5:22-23). The harvest of fruit in our lives gives evidence to what is happening in our hearts. So, if the fruit of the Spirit is evident, then I know I am walking in true freedom. But if there are areas where that fruit is not growing well, or not evident at all, then I know that I have believed a lie and need to surrender an area to God again.

While studying this, I was reminded of the Israelites in the wilderness. Upon crossing the Red Sea, their bondage to Egypt was physically over. Yet the people were not free in their minds. This became evident every time they encountered adversity and wailed that they should have stayed in Egypt, in slavery. When they reached the Promised Land and heard the account of the men who went to spy out the land, once again this mindset became clear. They remained trapped in the belief that they were slaves, “like grasshoppers” in the eyes of their enemies, instead of seeing themselves as the empowered, chosen people of an invincible God. Only two men, out of the whole assembly, had come to recognize their freedom and were ready to walk in it. To stand fast. Because they didn’t rely on their own limited ability, but on the bigness of their God.

In my pursuit of discipline last year, I came face to face with many areas in my life where I was not walking in freedom. Things that I have come to realize I was trying too hard to walk well in on my own and failing miserably. I have come to see that discipline and freedom hold hands. Because, just like the Christians to whom Paul was writing and the Israelites in the desert, I can only get so far working in my own strength. Nothing I do will allow me to walk free except the acceptance of the Truth – that I am already free! When I live out that Truth in His strength, and by His Spirit, that is when discipline comes alongside and partners with freedom.

Freedom. To be honest, I was a little confused when the word first came, but when I thought about it, I realized it’s actually the perfect word to follow discipline. Last year was eye-opening for me and it brought to light so many things that I believe about myself, about God, and about where I “fit” in the cosmos. Beliefs that dictate my words and actions, that do not line up with what God says about me. Discipline managed to highlight the areas of my life that need freedom. Lies that needed to be confronted and now will need to be continually replaced with Truth. Exchanges to be made. I need to accept who God made me to be and surrender all into His Hands. My hope is that when I get to the end of 2023, I will be able to look back and see a wonderful harvest of fruit and know that I am walking free – a bond servant of Christ, immersed in the love and service of my Saviour.

Happy New Year, friends. I hope it’s a year of freedom for you too!

If you set out to seek freedom, then learn above all things to govern your soul and your senses, for fear that your passions and longings may lead you away from the path you should follow.
Chaste be your mind and your body, and both in subjection, obediently, steadfastly seeking the aim set before them;
only through discipline may a man learn to be free.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer