the trap of freedom, part 1 of 2
June 3rd, 2008 @ 9:42 am
this past weekend, chris and i went to his hometown of kansas city for a quick trip to visit his family before we move to nashville. on the itinerary was a trip to westside family church…the church where i received my call to vocational ministry six years ago, the place i fell in love with the body of christ, where i loved and dreamed and had my heart broken, only to love and dream again.
dan deeble, who is the senior pastor at heartland community church, was the guest speaker. dan began sharing about what we, as the church, could do if we served together. he told a story of a time he was in washington dc with a friend. he had stayed in a fancy hotel, had eaten an amazing steak dinner, and on a walk back to his hotel, had a homeless man in a wheelchair approach him.
long story short, after going through his internal conflict of “oh crap, if i would have only made it twenty more feet, i wouldn’t have to deal with this” and knowing what he needed to do, he offers to take the man to a local burger king. on the way, the homeless man stops in a print shop and gets fliers for the ministry he is starting for the homeless. dang. a brother in christ. he is totally humbled. dan and the homeless man continue on to eat and head back to the hotel.
the homeless man stops about twenty feet from the hotel — the same place he had stopped dan earlier. he knew that there was an invisible barrier…of wealth and of class…preventing him from going further.
dan turns around to bid him farewell, and the homeless man pulls dan down to where he sat, reaching around him and giving him a kiss on the cheek.
dan continues by saying he doesn’t remember what the suite in the hotel looked like. the taste of the steak he had was long gone thirty minutes after he ate it. but he will never, ever forget the touch of the homeless man’s kiss on his cheek.
galatians 5:10 was the verse dan centered his message on.
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.
i’ve written a lot about the freedom we have in christ, but during dan’s talk had one of those moments when head knowledge becomes heart knowledge.
we have been given freedom in christ. and instead of making ourselves gluttons of our culture, we are given this freedom as a gift to serve each other.
galatians 5:19-21 describes the things we aren’t supposed to indulge in…
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.
i struggle the most with this still in the area of how i spend money. it’s not necessarily how much i spend, but why i spend it.
to be quite raw, it’s mostly because of envy, selfish ambition and jealousy. why can’t i have the perfect house/wardrobe/car/gadgets or eat at the most posh of restaurants/bistros when others can? i want to be perceived as trendy and well-off, like they are. and so my bank account suffers.
is there anything wrong with any of those things? i truly believe not. again, it’s the why.
am i serving myself or am i serving others with my freedom? if i serve myself, does my freedom actually trap me?
Church · Confessional · Kansas City · Travels
Lori K said,
June 3, 2008 at 9:58 am
Anne - thank you for sharing this. The story about the homeless man and Dan is one that reminds me of many others who have almost turned their cheek on someone unlike them but then something changed their heart - they spent time with this person and their life was then changed for the better. One story that really stands out is when Beth Moore met a grungy, dirty looking man at an airport, was somehow strangely drawn to him and ended up brushing his hair. I know, strange, but great story!!
We are looking so forward to meeting you and welcoming you to Cross Point!! Can’t wait!!!
Deneen said,
June 3, 2008 at 9:58 am
Thank you for this post, Anne…this is a very bright reminder of those things that I have fogotten…and a light on the areas of my life that need some work.
jon said,
June 3, 2008 at 10:15 am
powerful stuff…i can’t wait for the video to hit their site, i’ll have to watch the message…
thanks!
Crystal Renaud said,
June 3, 2008 at 10:21 am
pretty incredible, huh?!
Michael Johnson said,
June 3, 2008 at 10:37 am
These past couple of weeks at Westside has been, in my opinion, what the church is all about. Different churches, different denominations, coming together because we love Christ and what to do more with each other rather than less with each other. Or for that matter, against each other.
Randy Cook said,
June 3, 2008 at 10:42 am
Amazing!
Emily said,
June 3, 2008 at 10:47 am
Wow, super great thoughts.
Kelli said,
June 3, 2008 at 10:55 am
What a great blog. I had a homeless man tell me once that I was an angel. After I assured him numerous times that I was quite human, he got right up in my face and said. “When you sang, I saw Jesus. You’re an angel. ”
I’ll NEVER forget that.
Godzgal said,
June 3, 2008 at 10:59 am
WOW! Service and loving others is so huge!!! Sunday after our morning services our team took off to mow, trim bushes, clean gutters, etc to some houses new our new church location. I think all of us involved have never felt better about something we did this past week.
Thanks for sharing this…I’ll have to pass it along! Eye opening for sure!
ryan guard said,
June 3, 2008 at 11:07 am
What a great question.
When I use my freedom to serve myself, it always feels like freedom at first. It always feels like I have figured out a better way to live. I’m really good at justifying my selfish choices- and maybe like you, I usually play the comparison game. More starts to feel like much less. I forget that the Father is saying “everything I have is yours.”
John Ireland said,
June 3, 2008 at 11:56 am
great lesson of truth from a fascinating story!
though i would agree that uncovering and getting freedom from the “why” is primary, i also would suggest that - for some - it might just be the first step.
put another way: if the Holy Spirit is able to free me from the sin of comparison, i may still need to give-up some material possessions or future accumulation of same because of a commitment to stewardship, generosity, etc.
so…i agree that none of those things you listed, per se, is wrong. they just might be wrong for me.
hope that’s not too muddy. :)
natalie said,
June 3, 2008 at 11:59 am
Great post Anne!
Randy said,
June 3, 2008 at 12:17 pm
The theme you are hitting on sums up one of the biggest problems with being christian in our culture.
“Just because you can does not make it right.”
friend said,
June 3, 2008 at 2:39 pm
I know this is going to sound SO stupid, but I will just have to get over that.
Last night I had a really strange dream that I was leading a cow to my backyard to put it in it’s pen… this is already weird because I live in the suburbs of Fort Worth and have no place for any type of cow to live…
Anyways, I heard a friend of mine laughing at me from across the street. After she went inside, the cow started freaking out and it ran through the neighborhood like crazy. It came back and right as I had run into my house and closed the front door, it slammed into the door and almost knocked it right down.
Then I woke up, came to work, and heard about you & your book while web surfing. HAHA!
That may have NO connection whatsoever, but I was really asking God “what the heck? Was that supposed to mean anything?!”
So maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t, but I do think that I should encourage you today… or.. thank you, or congratulate you… so I’ll just do all. Thank you for the hard work you’ve done, for stickin it out with the Lord on your side. Congratulations on your book making headway and for people hearing about it through the web and other places… I think it will really be great and can’t wait to read it, which now, I know I must. And I know very very little about you, so I don’t know what kind of encouragement you really need, but God does, so take courage! You aren’t coming up short in any way… God just doesn’t let his kids come up short like that… He doesn’t leave you hangin. All your needs are provided for by Him.
Alright have a blessed week and if nothing else, get a laugh out of my crazy dream! You’ve at least sold one copy right here… I’m buyin.
Texas in Africa said,
June 3, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Are you sure that those things really aren’t part of the problem? I agree that it’s mainly an issue of the heart, but I’m also increasingly convicted that it is wrong - sinful, really - for Christians to indulge in buying so much crap for ourselves when members of the body of Christ are starving to death. And the fact that all the stuff exists makes it a problem for us, no? After all, no church needs HD screens and fancy setups for the Holy Spirit to convict. And none of us need an iphone to be able to love our neighbors.
Dan Morehead said,
June 3, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Are you saying your struggle is not over how much but why? Or are you saying it doesn’t matter how much but why? The first I can live with, the second, I’d disagree. Thanks for the post…
Klint said,
June 3, 2008 at 3:53 pm
I’m bummed that I missed you guys! We were out on a family mission trip in Oklahoma.
Thougth Provoking post…Freedom in Christ is painfully paradoxical and a constant thorn in my side; in a good way..?.
emma said,
June 3, 2008 at 6:05 pm
“had one of those moments when head knowledge becomes heart knowledge.”
–love those moments.
beth said,
June 3, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Great post, sounds like an awesome message. There’s a visual that won’t leave - the kiss of a homeless man….
One line sparked my curiousity - have you ever written about you ‘call to vocational ministry’? I’d love to know about that…
Bill (cycleguy) said,
June 4, 2008 at 3:42 am
Dang it Anne! Would you please leave me alone! You keep messing with my comfort. Reckon I am going to have to quit reading your blog if you keep this up. :) On the sane side: I can relate. As a pastor I struggle with looking at others and seeing what others have especially since I am trying to get out of debt (only one card left). As Dave Ramsey is fond of saying, “I want to live like no one else so I can live like no one else.”
One of my toughest questions to answer is “who needs help and who is using me?” I put gas in someone’s car the other day. Did they need it or use me?
Thanks for the challenging post.
Me said,
June 4, 2008 at 8:54 am
Anne,
Let me give you a flip side here. I try (and I’m not tooting any horn here)to help other people out. Because I want to, because I feel I should and because it was something I saw my dad demonstrate daily, which ingrained in my soul. But I am finding that people you want to do for (and not all) say no, bless someone that needs it more. So what do you do. How do you help those that need it, but won’t accept it?
Julie B. said,
June 4, 2008 at 9:03 am
I totally understand what you are saying Anne! Some of the things I have been thinking about lately:
Are we, as Christians, using the word “freedom” to see how close we can get to sin and still stay “holy”? Yes, we have “freedom in Christ,” we have been forgiven from our sin and we need not to be a slave to sin. However, why do we continue to tempt ourselves and play with fire by seeing how close we can get without crossing the invisable line of sin vs. freedom to do what we want in Christ? We pride ourselves by not being legalistic, but what is the benefit when our ability to “do whatever” causes more inner conflict than when we stay a healthy distance from the very things that cause turmoil in our lives?
tony said,
June 4, 2008 at 10:23 am
anne - i agree with you. it is the why. just think, if God put ALL of us in poverty, and we had nothing, how would we help others out of poverty? i always go back to the cattle on a thousand hills deal. He owns it and He’ll do whatever He wants to with it, including giveth and taketh away - He controls wealth and its distribution, not us. our egos should not be so big that we think any differently.
Elisha Arlan said,
June 4, 2008 at 11:34 am
Anne - It’s totally not wrong to want the “finer” things of life. Sometimes though in our working efforts towards those things, we neglect the important things… like giving to the homeless, the fatherless, the widow and the aliens who cross our paths often asking for help. Our freedom is in knowing God has so richly blessed us with all things through Christ that we can freely give to others in need.
Don’t give up on having the perfect house/wardrobe/car/gadgets or eating at the most posh of restaurants/bistros, etc. We can have our cake and eat it too! Just make sure we’re ready to cut several slices out of it to share with others around us. God’s job is to make sure our cake is more than enough to satisfy everyone who comes to the table, including us.
Jenni Catron said,
June 4, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Thanks for sharing your journey and giving us a great example for how to seek Godly perspective on the resources we have.