I AM: A Free Week Eight - Day One

By Central Women

I grew up in a small church where most Sundays the sermon was accompanied by a short theatrical performance that would relate to the message we just had or were about to hear.

My parents were involved in theater, and so naturally, it was something that we took on as children as well. I recall one particular Easter where the play was centered around a Roman tax collector who was demanding the people to fulfill their debts. As they paid them off, he would put a big stamp on the page and yell out “tetelestai” which meant paid in full.

As a high school student, I didn’t give a second thought to the impact of the message being conveyed during that performance. Fast forward several years to when I was in college. Another Easter Sunday sermon came that completely revolved around this Greek word “tetelestai.”

This time, however, the word meant something far different to me. As the preacher related this concept of our debt being paid in full to what Jesus did for us by paying our debt on the cross, everything changed for me. I pictured myself as a prisoner being weighed down by a ball and chain. Did I mention that I was involved in theater growing up? So yes, this mental image may have been a bit theatrical, and yes, it did include me wearing black and white stripes. However, the reality of it, the magnitude of this mental picture was monumental.

This was the first time in my life that I fully understood what it meant to be a slave to this world and to have the redeeming power of Christ in my life as He set me free and broke the chains that I had been bound by for so long.

For the majority of us, the concept of slavery is a completely foreign concept. Others may be more familiar with it. However, I believe all of us have some idea of the implications of the bondage that comes when you are held in slavery.

Being a slave means you have no rights, no say and no influence in determining who you are and what you do. I have had countless conversations with women who are on a quest to learn who they are to the point that, I believe, it truly is one of the deepest longings of a woman’s heart. However, the dilemma appears when we don’t take the first step into the freedom that God has given us and end up heavily influenced by the parameters of those things that enslave us.

Here is the reality:

When we are not living a life in the freedom Christ has given us, we remain a slave to this world.

It truly is no wonder that in our search to define who we are; we look to the world to give us this definition.

Have you found yourself in this place? When you look to define who you are, what words come to mind?

Do these words leave you with hope, inspiration, and purpose; or are they limited, dictated by others, and non-fulfilling?

Take a minute to read Psalm 118:1-16. The psalmist opens with a bold declaration, “His steadfast love endures forever.” He emphasizes this point by proclaiming this four times in the opening of this chapter. He goes on, “out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free.” He continues this chapter emphasizing that our trust and hope should not be in man, but in the Lord.

When we cry out to God and experience the freedom that the Lord has to offer, we no longer are a slave, allowing the world to define who we are. We are no longer a slave to being constrained by a meager and hopeless purpose. Rather, we now walk in light of that freedom, with the expectancy to be filled with the goodness the Lord desires so deeply for us to experience. We can live in the abundance of the Lord’s steadfast love and the purpose and hope that we now are defined by, rather than remaining a slave to the depravity of this world.

Reflect:

Take a moment to pray and ask God to reveal to you how you can replace those defining words that have held you in bondage with the truth of the freedom you have in Christ.

Journal your response to God’s call to His freedom and ask the Lord to prepare your heart and give you guidance to enter into that freedom as we continue this journey together.