What is your freedom worth?
Statue of Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn
“In the year of our Lord 1314, patriots of Scotland starving and outnumbered charged the fields of Bannockburn. They fought like warrior poets. They fought like Scotsmen, and won their freedom.”
And so ends the movie Braveheart – a not-so-accurate portrayal of the Scottish fight for freedom led by William Wallace and Robert the Bruce. Don’t get me wrong, I love the movie, I just wish it was accurate.
The historical reality of the life and times of Wallace and the Bruce is quite different than how it was depicted by Hollywood, but the outcome was the same. The Scots did win their freedom from Edward II on the battle fields of Bannockburn.
In fact, on the fields of Bannockburn there stands a statue of Robert the Bruce and a memorial with this engraving on it: (Said to be the Scots rallying cry on June 24, 1314.)
“We fight not for glory, nor for wealth, nor honor, but only and alone we fight for freedom – which no good man surrenders but with his life.”
Freedom from oppression has been the rallying cry for many, many people throughout the course of human history. The Scots were willing to lay their lives down for the sake of freedom. They weren’t fighting for money, glory or honor. No, they wanted freedom. Freedom from oppression.
Someone once said that “freedom is not the license to do what you want, but the liberty to do what you ought”. Paul said that it was for freedom that Christ has set us free. We did not have to fight for and make great sacrifices to obtain our freedom. No, Jesus fought the battle for us. Perhaps that is why we so often surrender our freedom so easily.
So what is it that imprisons us? What is it that takes our freedom?
Sin. It’s sin that we can be in bondage to. We become enslaved to fear, insecurity, timidity, lust, anger, selfishness, pride, hopelessness, despair, apathy, greed, coveting, faithlessness, lying, idolatry, etc. And, it’s the lies of the enemy that we choose to believe. Of course, believing the lies of the enemy instead of the Truth of God is sin as well. By believing the lies of the enemy we do not appropriate the life that God has for us. The Truth of God actually sets of free – if we choose to believe it.
Jesus surrendered His life so that we might live in freedom. Are we willing to surrender ours to appropriate that freedom? Salvation is free. It is a gift of God that we receive by faith. Salvation is the change of our citizenship from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Following that we need to live according to the constitution of this new “Kingdom”, this new government that we are part of. We must believe the Truth of God and not the lies of the enemy. We must also wield our will well and resist temptations of the enemy, resist being enticed into all manner of disobedience to the constitution of the Kingdom of God.
Jesus calls us to surrender to Him. To surrender our life, our sin, our brokenness, our pride, our expectations, our will, our fear, our weakness, etc. so that we might live in freedom in Him. It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Free to live, free to love, free to give, free to laugh, free to rejoice – free, period. And yet we can easily surrender our true freedom by choosing sin and the lies of the enemy.
Men, let us have a similar resolve to Robert the Bruce and resist the temptation to surrender our freedom. May we fight well – wield our will well – and not so easily surrender our freedom by choosing sin and the lies of the enemy. Remember the battle cry of the Bruce; resist the temptations of this world to obtain the freedom that Jesus has for us.
Jesus paid a great price for our freedom, let us not so quickly surrender what it cost Him so dearly to obtain.
Galatians 5:1
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
John 8:31-32
“…Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
James 1:14-15
“…but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”
God is a Southpaw
Any baseball fans out there?
Ahh yes, those lazy days of summer soon to be upon us: sitting at the ball park enjoying time with your dad, your son or a buddy. For that brief period of time while you are snacking on all manner of food and drink, that contains nothing of nutritional value but lots of good-tasting, blood thickening comfort, your troubles are miles away.
Nothing to concern yourself with but pitches, balls, strikes, stolen bases, hits, outs, runs, batting averages, player stats, and anything else of interest that is fairly non-consequential.
I have never really been into baseball. I have been to a couple of major league games, but never played the game. I have a buddy though who his entire life has secretly wanted to be a baseball commentator:
“Next up we have Jones, who has a batting average of .303, but is hitting .225 against Eduardo over their last 5 meetings. He grew up in Gainesville, Alabama, where he got his first home run against the Townsville Titans at age 7 – ohh, the pitch is high and outside. Ball one – He played center field for 3 seasons for the Gainsville Gators during elementary school – ohh, swing and a miss – then went on to play shortstop in middle school…”
You get what I mean.
I have discovered that God is into baseball. In fact, He is a pitcher – a southpaw. A southpaw is someone who pitches with his left hand. Not only is God a southpaw, He doesn’t even pitch from the pitcher’s mound.
No, He pitches from left field.
Have you ever heard that phrase, “That came right out of left field”? What it refers to is something that is completely unexpected. “I didn’t see that coming – it came right out of left field.”
It has been my experience that God can oftentimes pitch opportunities right out of left field. Completely unexpected. Seemingly unconnected to anything else that was going on. Something that could be easy to miss, or dismiss if we don’t pause to consider what is going on and ask the Lord if He is somehow behind this.
Over the years I have had numerous experiences like this where I considered a potential opportunity and was very close to dismissing it until I paused and asked the Lord if this was indeed His invitation, only to discover that it was Him “pitching out of left field”.
You may be looking at something right now – an opportunity of some sort that has presented itself. Perhaps it does not fit your paradigm or doesn’t fit into the plan that you have been implementing for years. Well, all I would suggest is that you pause and ask the Lord if He is in this. This could be something He has pitched at you right out of left field – which I happen to think is the position He loves to play.
In these circumstances we need to be still and recognize Him. Don’t necessarily compare it to what has gone on before; He could be doing something new.
Listen and let the peace of God be the umpire in your heart. In other words, when you consider this unforeseen opportunity do you have peace in your heart? If you do, it could very well be the Lord pitching out of left field again. If you don’t have peace, then it could be time to call it “out”.
All of this is simply to encourage you not to dismiss an unexpected opportunity of some sort that seemed to come out of nowhere. Pause, pray, ask the Lord if this is from Him and look for His peace.
Remember, God is a southpaw and He loves to pitch from left field – don’t miss your opportunity.
Isaiah 43:18, 19
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”
Psalm 46:10
“Be still and know that I am God;”
Colossians 3:15
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts…”
Why do guys do that?
“Ok, I’ll come by your house at 3:00?”
“Ahhh, sure. No wait, come by at 3:30.”
“What’s up?”
“I have to move our washing machine.”
“Well, I’ll give you a hand.”
“No, don’t worry about it. Cheryl and I can do it, come by at 3:30.”
I pushed a little more about helping out, but my buddy insisted that he and “Cheryl” (not her real name) could move the washing machine themselves. When I arrived at their house his wife opened the door with a look on her face I had never seen before. It was a combination of “I want to kill Gerry right now” (not his real name), “I can’t believe I married a man this stupid” and “I told him to let you help out, but would he listen to me? No…”
She never said a word. She simply turned and beckoned me to follow, then pointed down the basement stairs to where their washing machine was embedded into the wall of the landing halfway down the stairs.
It didn’t take long to piece together the sequence of events: They were moving their washing machine from the basement to the main floor. They successfully navigated the first flight of stairs onto the landing, turned, then got halfway up the second flight of stairs when something went horribly wrong. The washer somehow got loose and rockets down the stairs until it crashed through the wall on the landing.
My friend stood on the landing, his head hung in shame and defeat, waiting for me to say, “Why didn’t you let me help you?
Of course I said it, but then we got working on the washer, pried it out of the drywall and carried it upstairs with no further incidents. Later on the full story came out of how he had put a chain on the washer and wrapped it around his tiny wife’s shoulder (who is literally about 4’11 and 100 pounds). She pulled from the top while he pushed from the bottom. She lost her grip half way up, he couldn’t hold it, and the rest is history – and would have made a fabulous photo for the “Real Men Hall of Shame”. Sadly, no photo exists.
So, why do guys do that? Why do we refuse to ask for help when we really need it? And worse, why do we refuse help when it is offered, even though we could really use it?
I don’t get it – do you? We listen to my buddy’s story and laugh at how he could have been so stupid, but we all do it. We’ve all done things like that. We all have stories for the “Real Men Hall of Shame.”
My point is this: for whatever reason we as men seem to find it difficult to ask for help when we need it. Whether it’s pride, independence, foolishness, or not wanting to bother anyone – I don’t know. The point is we do it. However, we can choose to not be like that and ask for help.
Don’t we all love it when someone does ask us for help? We love to somehow “come to the rescue” and help out. When we do that it always creates a deeper connection with the friend who chose wisely and asked for assistance.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Most guys appreciate the opportunity to help out and in doing so deepen a relationship with a buddy.
Ask and you will receive. There is no shame in asking for help. However, there is shame, or at least mocking from your friends, in not asking and doing something stupid.
Ask for help. Don’t find yourself in the “Real Men Hall of Shame” – though, sadly, you’ll be in good company there if you do. We all have stories to tell…
Ecclesiastes 4:9, 10
“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.”
Proverbs 15:22
“Plans fail for lack of counsel, bit with many advisers they succeed.”
Life’s Critical Daily Decision
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“…except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly.” Deuteronomy 1:36
Wow. So what did Caleb do to make him “exceptional” and receive the incredible promises of God?
Well, the simple answer is that he followed the Lord “wholeheartedly”, but what did that look like?
I think Caleb chose wisely when it came to life’s critical daily decision. His choice, his daily ongoing choices, led him to be a wholehearted man and receive the promises of God.
So what did he choose?
He was faced with the same choice that you and I face every day. In fact, he faced the same choice that every single person who has chosen to walk with God has had to choose.
Will we choose fear, or will we choose faith?
That is really what it comes down to: will I give into the stresses, the strains, the trials of life and the constant whisper campaign of the enemy intent on getting me to not believe the truth of God, to get me believe that God cannot be trusted and I, therefore, need to be afraid and take control myself? Or will I believe what God says is true?
Caleb was one of the 12 spies sent into the Promised Land to scope it out. They spent 40 days checking things out and they all came back with the same report: The land was indeed flowing with milk and honey, its fruit was abundant, and there were lots of people living there who were powerful and lived in fortified cities. They all agreed on that.
However, 10 of the spies chose fear instead of faith:
“We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are…the land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size…We seemed like grasshoppers in or own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
Caleb chose faith instead of fear:
“We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it…the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”
I read this account in Numbers 13&14 and I say to myself, “C’mon man, wack your head with a stick. God just led you out of Israel with a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud. He parted the Red Sea and wiped out Pharaoh and his army… quail in the desert, manna from heaven, etc,…and you still don’t believe God – what is it going to take?”
It’s easy to look at their profound disbelief after all God has done and think these people are thicker than a sack of hammers – until I examine my own heart. How has God demonstrated His incredible faithfulness in my life for decades, and then a tough business scenario hits, or a serious illness, or maybe just the everyday stresses, strains and trials of life, and suddenly I am racked with fear.
Why am I afraid? Why are you afraid? Because I, and perhaps you, are not choosing to believe that God is who He says He is. He will provide; He will complete His work in us; He will lead, guide, counsel and watch over us; He does not sleep or slumber; He will not let us fall; He has not yet forsaken any who trust in Him; nothing can separate us from His love.
Either He is who He says He is, or our faith is a joke.
So, our critical daily decision is whether or not we will believe God, or give into fear sown by the one who wants to steal, kill and destroy all the life God has for us. And, the only way our enemy can steal the life God has for us is if we give into his fear and don’t choose to believe the Truth of God.
So my friend, if you are living in fear I implore you to choose to wholeheartedly believe the Truth of what God says. A sure sign that we do not believe the Truth is if we are living in fear on an ongoing basis.
Choose faith over fear. Believe the Truth, and it will set you free from fear.
Joshua 1:9
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
John 8:31,32
“Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'”
Isaiah 41:10
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”