Free To Be Us

I am a little excited this morning.  I bought a new refrigerator.  But, it was damaged.  There is a little bitty dent in the side of it, so they took a chunk of dollars off of it and made me a deal.  I am happy.  I don't get it until next Friday, but I am excited.

It got me thinking about being new, and being damaged.  When we hear the gospel, and our hearts are ready to accept it, we come to Christ not new, but damaged.  Satan had battered and beat us to a point that we are unrecognizable.  We have done, said, been all the things that are ugly and gross.  We are ashamed and embarrassed.  But, when that moment of truth hits, the light bulb comes on and we realize we can change and be changed.

Christ wants us to bring the dents and broken pieces of our lives to him.  He loves that he can make us perfect in God's eyes.  He covers us with his blood because he, the perfect lamb, died on Calvary.  He makes us new in him.   1Peter 4:8  says, "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."    Colossians 1:  19-20  says "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."

I love the image of being dented and torn.  There is a song sung by Francesca Battistelli called Free To Be Me.  The chorus is...

‘Cause I got a couple dents in my fender
Got a couple rips in my jeans
Try to fit the pieces together
But perfection is my enemy
On my own I'm so clumsy
But on Your shoulders I can see
I'm free to be me

I Am Free

Easter is fast approaching! The choir is starting tonight, to practice for the Easter Cantata. The very first song is called I AM Free. It talks about how through Christ's love for us and our acceptance of all he has done for us, we are free to do anything; dance, run, even live for him. In this country people say nothing is free. Well to show your faith and to show your love is free, if you let it be.

Freedom is part of our every day lives and most of us take it for granted. We run around, during our daily living, spouting off that we love God, that we go to church and that God loves everybody. We know that we can do this freely and that most of the time, people will not bother us about it. But how about the people who feel trapped and in despair. Are we really living our lives that show we are free? That if we trust God and through him we can feel free. We can be joyful and in doing what he wants us to do, we are able to freely offer to others what God has offered to us through Jesus. The free gift of eternal life. So, are you free?

Romans 8:1-2 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.