Some people aren't ready for freedom. That's just a plain and simple fact. And, listen, don't judge them too harshly. People know what they've experienced. A lot of times it goes all the way back to those cruical formative years. Which is why I love Proverbs 22:6 so much, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Which--especially in the context of standing fast in the liberty that Christ has given to us--means training up a child to be free. I completely agree with and believe that strict parents produce sneaky kids. I would much rather have open discussion and honesty... an environment of grace and mercy and truth... than think everything is ok because that's how it looks on the surface but in reality nothing is ok. Freedom is messy, I think is what I'm trying to say. And that's ok. Life is not paint by numbers. Life is messy. You can't control it a lot of the time. Most of the time the best you can do is keep control of yourself in whatever situation you find yourself in. Freedom isn't free. But it is priceless. And, even though the Word of God (which is Jesus, which is love) has already set us free and made us free, it's also a process. When the people of Israel came out of bondage they NEEDED the Ten Commandments. Because they didn't know how to live. All they knew was slavery. All they knew was doing what they were told. And, yes, they went ahead and abused their freedom. That will happen. But just because freedom can (and will) be abused doesn't mean there is a better alternative. Just because people don't understand or agree with what you're doing... that doesn't necessarily make it wrong. It might be wrong for THEM, but that's fine. They don't have to do it. Drinking, for example. It's legal. You can do it if you're 21 or older. But that doesn't mean everybody should do it. And even though I personally believe nothing good comes from it and nobody should do it... it's not my place to enforce my beliefs on anybody else. The best I can do is train my kid up to understand what it is--and what it isn't--and make my own decisions about how I'M going to handle drinking in my life. Which is to say, not doing it. Myself. On a personal level. You don't have to agree with someone else's way of life. Because it's THEIR way of life. Unless it is harmful to you... don't worry about it. I'll protect my family to the ends of the earth. But if you want to drink, and you're not hurting anybody (except maybe yourself), hey... to each his own. And if people aren't ready for freedom... don't try to force it on them either. Again--it's a process. Learning and growing. Understanding what freedom means. What we can do... and what we should do. So don't try to force people to agree with you. Don't try to create little clones of yourself. Let people be who they are--even if who they think they are at the moment isn't who they really are. Let people take their journey. And trust GOD to bring them through. Trust GOD to do what HE wants to do. It's not your job to change people. It's your job to love people. So just do that. Use YOUR freedom to love people. Even if they don't understand THEIR freedom.

In order to stand fast in your liberty, your freedom, you must know that you are free. And you must know what it means to BE free. Not using your liberty for an occasion of the flesh, but using it to love people. Because that's what freedom is. To live is to love and to love is to live. To be free is to be free from sin--which is unbelief, which is to say that you incorrectly believe that God doesn't love you. If you are free FROM sin, and you believe that God loves you... that's when you are free TO love. Because the Divine Order of things is knowing and believing. Receiving and releasing. Letting what's inside come out by knowing and believing it's in there. Letting God fill you up, and then filling yourself up to overflowing with what He has filled you up with. When you're loving people, you're living free. See, it's not about getting away with stuff. That's the absolute wrong mindset. If your goal is to get away with stuff--that you know you shouldn't be doing in the first place--you need a new goal. Look at 1 Corinthians 10:23, "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not." My grandpa said it this way, "You can do whatever you want... as long as you're willing to pay the consequences." Which is to say we CAN do whatever we want. Especially as adults. Especially in America. But that doesn't mean you SHOULD do anything and everything. They talk about setting a goal and then making sure everything you do serves that goal, right? Doing things on purpose. For purpose. By purpose. Living that old purpose driven life. And, as simply as I can put it, our purpose is to love one another. I do that, in large part, through my writing. And by spending what limited time I have with the people I love. But we can all find ways to let people know we care. Sometimes even just checking in on someone is enough. The little things that ARE the big things. And, again, that's how we stand fast in our freedom. That's how we exercise and enjoy our freedom. Not by doing what we know we shouldn't be doing--that's just putting ourselves, and keeping ourselves, in bondage--but by doing what we were created to do. Doing what God created us to do. He made you... you. Specificially. Because He wanted what you've got to be in the world. So don't deny the world your unique flavor of love. Don't let a fear of what freedom isn't stop you from experiencing what freedom is. Don't let people try to conform you to what they think you're supposed to be. Don't use freedom to "fall from grace" and put yourself back up under the law. Use your freedom to be free. To live your best life by letting God love you and loving Him back by loving people. What you feed is what will grow. So if you focus on love... what you magnify in your life is what will manifest in your life. Know your limits. Know your purpose. Know who you are and be who you are. Be free. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. His Spirit--He--lives in you! The truth has set you free and made you free. So be free. Stand fast in your freedom. Stand on the rock and you will not be shaken. Let God--let love--hold you up, and nothing can bring you down!

Here, in a nutshell, is what I'm trying to say in this Rant series: "For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another" (Galatians 5:13). That's as simple as I (or Paul) can make it. It's not freedom TO sin. It's freedom FROM sin. It's freedom TO love. We were in bondage... before the cross. Then, because of the cross, through the cross, on in the cross, we were set free. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." I have every confidence that the Father answered His Son's prayer. And not only forgave us for not knowing what we were doing... but shined the light of the world (that we are) on us, and in us, and through us so that we could see clearly. So that we could know what we are doing... and what we ought to be doing. And the best part is... He wiped the past away. Doesn't hold that portion of our life that my dad likes to call "wandering in the wilderness" against us. I've also heard it called "going around the mountain." I like both pictures. Basically it's when you don't even know what you don't even know. When you think you have life all figured out... but you really have no idea what life is about. Your youthful indiscretions. The things you did when you didn't know better. Trying to get whatever you could however you could. And I really believe--up to a point--that's just called being young. Because when you know better, you can do better. The problem is when you don't learn from your mistakes but just keep making them over and over and over. That's called insanity, right? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? At some point you have to learn and grow. Look at 1 Corinthians 13:11, "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." When we're young, we need someone (our parents) to take care of us. Which can--trust me, my nine year old lets me know--sometimes feel like bondage. Because you can't always do what you want. A lot of the time you have to do what your parents think is best for you. And, of course, as a parent I'm simply trying to train him up in the way he should go. But the point is, when we get to where we can do whatever we want... it's easy to overcompensate. To abuse our freedom. To use it, as Paul warned against, as an occasion to the flesh. And guess what: Even then God doesn't punish you. He's not in the punishing business. He's in the grace and mercy business. He's in the love business. He knows that love wins. That love endures. That it is the GOODNESS (not the scariness) of God that leads men to repentance. That only by seeing a more excellent way will we ever turn from "our" way. And then, once we experience that more excellent way (that is Jesus, that is love) we will be able to share that more excellent way. We will understand that standing fast in our liberty really means loving people with everything we are and everything we have. It means giving what you've got, not trying to get what you think you haven't got. It means free FROM sin, not free TO sin. It means... free to love!

Full disclosure: I am a bit "don't tread on me." I agree with Ben Franklin's famous quote, "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, right? Having said that, I want to spend some time looking at what liberty, what freedom, is really all about. Because you hear people talk about "greasy grace." You hear people talk about "license to sin." And that's what the idea of "freedom" has become. We talk about freedom as if it is the ability to do stuff we aren't supposed to do. Which, I guess, to some degree it might be. We have the freedom to, say, bungee jump off a bridge. Or drink alcohol. Certain drugs are "legal." But here's my thing: If you're LOOKING for excuses to do things that you know in your heart you shouldn't be doing... you've got it all mixed up from jump street. Look at Galatians 5:1, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." That's our key verse for this Rant series. And I really want to hit on that last part. "Be not entangled again wtih the yoke of bondage." Another way to say that is, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of you mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Romans 12:2). See, if you understand the story of the people of Israel you see that they WERE in bondage for like 400 some odd years. And then they were brought OUT of bondage. They were IN the world, and then they were transported TO the Kingdom. This transformation (by the renewing of our mind) is really just knowing and believing and accepting that we have BEEN transformed. LETTING the mind of Christ (that's already in us) BE in us. By using it. Not mistaking freedom FOR bondage, but understanding that it is freedom FROM bondage! I once heard a preacher say, "People talk about grace as license to sin... but people have been sinning without license for thousands of years!" And while my personal thoughts on sin might be a little bit different than his... the point remains that we need to shift our mindset away from one that says, "I'm free! I can do 'bad' stuff!" and into one that says, "I'm free from all that bad stuff that had a hold on me!" All the world can offer is bondage. Because that's all the world has. That's all the world is. The Kingdom of God (the Kingdom of love), on the other hand, has made everything we need readily available to us. Grace to grow. Forgiveness FOR all of those things we've done that we really wish we hadn't. A fresh start. The ability to walk in newness of life. The ability to experience Jesus's abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of Love by letting HIM live His own life in us, and through us, and as us. Resting in Him. Letting Him love us, and loving Him back by loving each other with that same love. And here's the key: Stand fast in that liberty wherewith we have been made free. Don't "fall from grace." Which means putting yourself back up under the law (of Moses), or conforming to the world! Be who you are. That's the freedom you have. The freedom... to live. And to love!

Let me drop my memory verse first, which is not my favorite thing to do, but I think in this case we need to know what the Scripture says so I can build off of it. "To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto him, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:19). Whatever God expects FROM us He first provides TO us. That is the Divine Order of things. That is, in fact, even what the New Commandment says. Love one another as Jesus has loved you. Simply receive it and release it. Breathe it in and breathe it out. So when we're talking about this escape hatch--this ability to get through whatever we have to go through--I think it's important that we look at it from a slightly bigger point of view than just ourselves. Yesterday I said something along the lines of, "We are saved by saving each other." Because giving what you've got is how you experience what you've got. God reconciled us... and gave us the word of reconciliation. Not imputing our trespasses against us. Which gives us the key to reconciling ourselves to each other--don't impute trespasses! And, as you know, I'm a big proponent of turning the other cheek... but also of not standing there and letting someone slap you over and over and over. Don't retalitate. Don't think you need to punish them. Just shrug your shoulders and move on. You're not for everyone. And that's ok. Get in where you fit in. And when you CAN help someone... do it. When you CAN make someone smile... do it. Because the world needs more of that. Now watch this, as I try to put a nice, neat bow on this Rant series: We're all in this together, right? So when I help you "escape," or endure something... that's how I experience my own escape. Because, as the old saying goes, it takes two to tango. I can't fully experience the gift of love without sharing it. Because love is giving. And you can't give what you don't have. You can only give what you do have. And you can't give without someone to give to. So loving someone isn't about getting anything. It's about giving THEM everything. Giving them the help, and the hope, that they need. Because you have it. Because God--probably in the form of someone in your life--gave it to you. So just pay it forward. Give what you've got. Let what's inside come out. And in that way experience what's inside on a whole different level. The tide raises all ships. Success for one can, and should, and ought to be, success for all. You don't have to diminish someone else in order to shine. If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far... go together. When we think of escaping, I think we go to a place of hiding. Of solitude. But true escape is, again, endurance. And it is so much easier to endure something when you have someone in the fox hole with you. When you know someone has your back. When you can work together. That's when the load gets lighter. More easy to bear. That's when we can start to enjoy the ride instead of just struggling through each and every mile of the journey. Things work out better when we work together. You can do this. And you don't have to do it alone!

I try to quote this memory verse a lot, because I love it. But I think I use it in a rather non-traditional way. Ready? Romans 10:13, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." The religious folk use that as a ticket to heaven, right? With the alternative being, "If you don't call on the name of the Lord, the cosmic elevator will go down instead of up." I have a more present way of looking at this though. And mine is: When you get into trouble... don't run FROM your heavenly Father. Run TO Him. Call on the name of the Lord--which is Jesus, which is love--in the midst of a situation you need to be saved from. Take a deep breath (drawing His love that is already inside of you in) and speak life. Breathe it in and breathe it out. Fill yourself to overflowing with what you've already been filled with and let it out. Naturally. Breathe love into your situation and you will be saved... from your situation. By being able to endure your situation. Remember now, escaping doesn't mean avoiding. It doesn't mean you never have to deal with anything. God has given us a way of escape SO THAT we can get through what we need to go through. Love is that escape hatch. Love is what carries us through. You've probably heard the poem (or whatever) about the foot prints in the sand. About how sometimes there are only two feet on the ground. Because that's when God carries us. Childlike, right? Trusting in Him. Letting things be what they are, and understanding things for what they are supposed to be. If you're always fighting, you're not letting all things work together for good in your life. What's that other old song? You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have... the facts of life. Life happens. Every day. You can either fight it every step of the way or you can rest, and flow, and enjoy it! Every storm runs out of rain, right? Every cloud has a silver lining. It came to pass, not to stay. Tough times don't last but tough people do. So we need to change our mindset from "I don't like this, I don't want to deal with it," to, "What lesson can I learn from this?" Or, "What love can I bring to this?" We so often see ourselves as the center of, well, everything, that we miss out on the fact that there are other people in "our" situations. And sometimes WE are in that situation soley to help someone ELSE. So if we avoid that situation, we're missing out on an opportunity to improve that situation. You can't learn and grow unless you go through things. You can't learn from your mistakes if you never make any. Escaping from temptations, or from whatever we need to be saved from, is as simple as calling on the name of the Lord. Injecting light into the darkness. Injecting love into everything and everybody. Letting YOUR light shine. Calling on the name of the Lord isn't an external thing. He lives in us. He IS us. Jesus is our true identity. God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. And we are saved--I think this is where I'm going tomorrow to end this Rant series--by saving each other. By loving each other. By letting the God in our flesh... out! And we do that, by calling on His name. His nature. His life. His love!

You can't escape from your life. In the sense of "getting out of it" or avoiding it. Ninety percent of life is just showing up. And we know that God cares more about availability than ability. What you're willing to do is more important than what you think you're capable of doing. And, listen, I talk about staying in your lane a lot. Knowing the best ways for you to be... you. For me it's writing. I think, at my most basic level, I'm a writer. Putting words on a page. So that's what I do, every day, in order to let myself be myself. I think a lot of the time--and this comes from the responsibilities of being in a society--we just go along to get along. We do what we HAVE to do. But, guys, there has to be a balance. I read this quote the other day: "You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you." And I think that's so true. So important. When we grind it out all day every day... we lose that piece of ourselves that makes us... us. When we should be feeding that part. Protecting that part. Making sure that part grows and flourishes. God made you who you are. Specifically. Because He wanted... you. Not the world's idea of who you should be. But the Father's beloved Son in whom HE is well pleased. I don't think God is well pleased when we deny who we really are. I don't think it gives Him any pleasure to see us suffer through life trying to be someone we're not. That's when you get tired. That's when you get frustrated and beaten down. Ok. Here's an example: I worked six nights last week because they offered me overtime and I'm all about that extra money in the paycheck. So I was exhausted. Had one night off. And chose to use that night to go play a round of golf (because I love playing golf). Which... is exhausting. Plus it was like ninety degrees out or some such. A real scorcher. And I'm telling you... playing golf with my brother--while I DID get physically tired--man... that filled me up. I felt great. I guess what I'm trying to say is that self care is important. That doing something for YOU once in a while is not selfish. It's a way to be the best you you can be. And that's what people need. My family needs me to be the best me I can be. So I need to escape from the grind once in a while. By doing what sparks a light in me. And that can be whatever it is for you. Working out. Singing. Dancing. Reading. Watching a movie. Praying. Sitting on the porch. Whatever it is that really puts you in a better place. Because a lot of this life IS a grind. But you can't let the grind grind you up. You have to be able to balance everything you have to do--you gotta do what you gotta do. Responsibilities are real and can't be shirked--with what you NEED to do. To me those are two different things. But we need both. We need to be able to DO both. God doesn't temp us with more than we can bear. Which doesn't mean avoid. It means get through. Endure. At the same time, it's a lot easier to endure when you're balancing that out with the things that set your soul on fire. Doing the things you have to do... and doing the things you were created to do. God put that thing inside you--whatever it is. Don't ignore it. Embrace it. Find that balance and everything else in your life will be more of a flow than a struggle!

In reality, "escaping" things is less about avoiding them and more about getting through them. Enduring them. Coming out stronger on the other side. And that is what we are promised, over and over again, in the Bible. Look at 1 Corinthians 10:13, "There hath no tempation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be temped above what ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." There's a lot here. First of all: We're all in this together. We all go through the same things. You don't ever have to think you're alone or that no one understands you. Suffering in silence while the person next to you has been there, done that, and got the t-shirt is no good. I believe we go through things for 2 reasons. 1. To learn and grow. 2. To help others when they inevitably go through the same things. It's a very personal human experience, but a very universal one at the same time. We can, and should, help each other. Especially when we intimately know what someone else is going through, because we ourselves have gone through it. The next part is where (I think) we get the idea "God never gives you more than you can handle." The thing that sometimes seems to be left off of that paraphrase is "...that ye may be able to bear it." That's the key. Love never fails... because love endures. Love doesn't give up. Love just keeps on keeping on. And that doesn't mean you should keep banging your head against the wall. That doesn't mean you should turn the other cheek and then just stand there and let someone keep slapping you. Sometimes you have to love people from a distance. It's like the old saying about having the strength to change the things you can change, and the grace to accept the things you can't... and the wisdom to know the difference. Yes, sometimes you have to just grit your teeth and bear it. Sometimes you just have to get through it. Not every part of life is designed for your comfort. But! God DOES work all things together for you good. The key is seeing the bigger picture. Not fighting to make things fit into your idea of what they should be, but letting things be what they are and finding your place in that. Every cloud has a silver lining, right? You just have to find it. And you find it... by looking for it. By knowing and believing that it's there. You find your place by getting in where you fit in. By loving everybody... and then pouring yourself into the people that receive your love. If someone isn't picking up what you're laying down... that's ok. But on the other hand, if someone DOES pick it up... if that connection is there... that's when things get really exciting. That's when things get really... real. So when temptation takes you--and you WILL be tempted by things. That's why they are called temptations--you won't be tempted above what you're able. You will have an escape hath that equips and empowers you to endure. And that escape hath... He is the door to the sheepfold. He is love. His is Jesus!

The Bible talks a bit about escaping. Which I think is probably where we get this pie in the sky, some glad morning, rapture me up out of here mindset comes from. And listen to me, if that's where you're at... and you're happy there... that doesn't bother me. It's not my job to make you believe the same thing that I do. It's my job to love you. It's my job to tell you what I think God is telling me. And, like old Jeremiah, it's not my business whether you pick up what I'm laying down or not. If it speaks to you... great. If it doesn't... that's ok too. As my brother John once said, "I just say the words. It's up to y'all to interpret them." But here's my point: I think "escaping" is more about "enduring." About getting through what we have to go through. And for the next few days I'm going to try to lay out and back up why I believe that. If it helps you get through the day... great. If you don't agree... eat the watermelon and spit out the seeds, right? Ok. Let's start with 2 Peter 1:4, "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." See, we don't necessarily escape the WORLD... we escape the CORRUPTION that's in the world. Kind of like how we can ignore the lie when we know the truth. It's magnify what is good, and perfect, and acceptable--the will of God. Which is for us to love one another as He has loved us. That's the whole point of this whole thing. That's the New Commandment for the New Man. It's all about love. And, as we will hopefully see, love is our escape hatch. Love is the solution to whatever the problem is. Love is what binds us together with each other, and love is what carries us through. Being a partaker of the divine nature--accepting and understanding that we HAVE the DNA (Divine Nature of the Almighty) of our heavenly Father--is so key. So vitally important. Because it's not until you accept who you are that you can BE who you are. Not by trying to be someone you think you're not, but by knowing the truth--the ultimate truth of the universe that says God is love and He loves you. The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands--and letting the truth set you free and make you free. That's the escape hatch we need: From the lie... to the truth. From the world... to the Kingdom. But not in an afterlife way all of the time. More in a everlasting, eternal, abundant, Resurrection Life of love way. In a way in which we are kings and priests equipped and empowered to rule and reign on this earth. In this time. Wherever you're at. Having dominion over the earth. Letting love lead you and guide you as you walk by faith. Breathing God's love in and out with every breath you take and every move you make. Escaping from the rut (which is just a grave with the ends kicked out) that we sometimes find ourselves in, and enjoying everything that is available to us. All of those exceeding great and precious promises. Everything that God has already given us. We don't need anything. Because we have everything. Because we have God. Because we have love!

There's a line in one of my favorite books that I just completely disagree with. Luckily it's said by one of the antagonists so I don't need to agree with it. But what she says is, "God doesn't want you happy, he wants you strong." Completely disagree. What Father wouldn't want His Son (in whom He is well pleased) to be happy? And why would His strength be perfected in our weakness if He wanted us to be strong on our own? Point being, our strength comes from Him. Our strength comes from love. Because God IS love. Love is what makes is strong. Love is what we have, so love is what we can (and should) give. God has filled us up with Himself (with His love) so that we can fill each other up with that same love. But you can't do it if you have a hard heart. You can't do it if you're trying to protect yourself. This is something that I have to constantly work on, but I believe the more excellent way is to just be vulnerable and let God protect you, if any protecting needs to happen. Sometimes we protect ourselves from threats that aren't even there. Aren't even real. Sometimes we make things worse because we're trying to "protect" ourselves, and the only way we know how to do that is by lashing out, or attacking. I don't think God wants that. He doesn't want us to fight any fights except the good fight of faith--which is using our faith to lay hold of the gift of eternal life that we've already been given. The fight is holding fast to the truth in the face of the lie. Ignoring the lie because we know the truth. Staying tenderhearted when the world tries its very best to make us cynical, and bitter, and hard hearted. That's the battle. That's the fight. That's where our focus should be. And, as always, focus on the solution not the problem. Don't try to break a stony heart. Just understand that God took out that stony heart and gave us HIS soft heart. We don't have to be strong... because He already did. Think about how hard--mentally, physically, and emotionally--it must have been for Jesus to endure everything He endured up to and including being nailed to a cross. He did all of the heavy lifting. He did everything that needed to be done. Because He loves us. When you love someone, you can (in a very real sense) move mountains. You can go through things you never thought you'd be able to get through. Because love carries you through. Love sustains you. Having a soft, tender heart doesn't make you weak. Meekness is not weakness. It is strength under control. I believe God DOES want you happy. And because He wants you happy... He has given you everything you will ever need to BE happy. I think a lot of our sorrow, or misery, comes from the erroneous idea that the grass is greener on the other side. We think we would be happy if we had what so and so had. When, in truth, we have everything we need. The trick is appreciating what you have instead of lamenting what you don't have. The trick is to not let the world harder your heart. To let God keep it soft, and tender, and sweet. Because what's inside WILL come out. It's too big not to. So guard your heart by keeping it open. Keeping it open to love. Letting the love that's inside come out!