| While taping a video for Kids Talk About God | | | | so infatuated with our little mud pies in the |
| television spots, I asked a kindergarten boy, | | | | sandbox that we can't see the vast oceans and |
| "What did the signers of the Declaration of | | | | continents God would have us explore. |
| Independence declare freedom from?" He looked | | | | How God ever got tagged as being against |
| at me with some uncertainty and said, "Your | | | | pleasure, I'll never know. For King David wrote, |
| parents." | | | | "You will show me the path of life; In your |
| When I asked another boy what happened in | | | | presence is fullness of joy; At your right hand are |
| 1776, he answered confidently, "Christopher | | | | pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 16:11). |
| Columbus discovered America." | | | | Have you ever noticed the faces of those who |
| Speaking of spiritual freedom, another child said, | | | | try to find life apart from God? The strain of life |
| "You get to go outside and play and say, 'Yea!'" | | | | in the sandbox shows. In our hearts, we know |
| I like this definition of spiritual freedom because it | | | | there must be something more, but few have |
| makes me recall the sheer joy of going outside | | | | the courage to question prejudices they inherit |
| to play. In my childhood imagination, a whole world | | | | from culture, friends, family, false religion and |
| was "outside" waiting to be explored. No one had | | | | tyrants. Of course, our own bad decisions play a |
| to teach me how to play or explore. Every child | | | | role in keeping us confined as well because we |
| knows this instinctively. It's part of God placing | | | | tend to justify ourselves rather than admit our |
| eternity in our hearts. | | | | guilt. |
| God wants us to experience the play and | | | | True freedom requires revolution. Our forefathers |
| exuberance of spiritual freedom. He wants us to | | | | declared freedom from English tyranny by signing |
| come outside, as it were, into the wide spaces of | | | | the Declaration of Independence. Many people |
| his kingdom, where we can learn the dance of his | | | | have died so we can live free in America. |
| fellowship. | | | | We declare freedom from the sandbox (lies that |
| God is waiting for us to respond to his love so | | | | promise life but never deliver) when we believe in |
| that he can fulfill our hearts' desire for true | | | | the Lord Jesus Christ as our savior. Jesus died to |
| intimacy. So many people live in a self-imposed | | | | pay the penalty for our sin and rose again to |
| slavery because they've been betrayed by selfish | | | | break the bonds of death. He wants us to |
| lovers. God wants to heal our wounds and bring | | | | experience the vast oceans of life that flow from |
| us to a place of living free in a loving relationship | | | | him as the source of eternal and abundant life. |
| with him. | | | | Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, |
| Some would like to portray spiritual freedom as | | | | and that they may have it more abundantly" |
| only a call to give up something, but it's more of a | | | | (John 10:10). Jesus wants to be your liberator and |
| call to gain something greater. Writer C.S. Lewis | | | | source of life. Will you declare your dependence |
| once compared our spiritual blindness to a small | | | | upon him today? |
| child's fixation with his sandbox. When his parents | | | | Point to ponder: Jesus came to set us free and to |
| remove him from the sandbox for a vacation at | | | | give us life. |
| the beach, he may kick, scream and cry. But all | | | | Scripture to remember: "Therefore, if the Son |
| this ceases at the first sight of beach, sand dunes | | | | makes you free, you shall be free indeed" (John |
| and vast ocean horizons. Suddenly, the sandbox | | | | 8:36). |
| isn't so appealing. | | | | Question to consider: Are you living free in Christ |
| The problem isn't that we're seeking too much | | | | or enslaved by your own fears, traditions or |
| pleasure but that we're settling for too little. We're | | | | passions? |