Living free

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.  Isaiah 40:31

I love that image from Isaiah.  The thought of soaring, effortlessly, yet powerfully and gracefully through the skies, captures for me an image of the freedom that God’s promises through his love, grace and mercy.

The closest that I can imagine to the soaring of an eagle would be that of a hang-glider, soaring the Morning Glory clouds in the Gulf of Carpentaria.  You can see some footage here.

What would be your favourite image of living free?

In John 10, Jesus contrasts life in him with the life of religion!

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10, NIV

The contrast is audacious! The life of religion leads to emptiness and bondage. Never knowing when enough has been done. Constantly striving for more.  Life in Jesus leads to freedom and wholeness; like the soaring on the wings of eagles – free and life-giving.

What sort of life do you notice yourself drawn to?

God loves to give.

While we might get hung up on proving our worth and our value, God simply says that we are more than enough.

While we might get hung up on doing the right thing in the right way, thinking that in doing so we can control what happens next, God simply pours his grace upon us and says everything is going to be OK.

While we might have doubts as to whether we are even able to be loved, respected, valued or appreciated, God pours himself into us through Baptism, washes us into himself.

And when we wonder whether we have done enough, whether we are good enough, whether we have prayed enough, whether we are faithful enough, God even reminds us that it is not about us; it is only ever about who God is and what God has done.

Lord, you establish peace for us;
    all that we have accomplished you have done for us. Isaiah 26:12, NIV

To live faithfully and to live prayerfully is to live with a freedom that brings hope, an inner resource that breeds resilience, and a sense that by God’s grace, we can all fly as on wings of an eagle.

May God go with you.

May God go before you to show you the way.

Beside you to be your friend.

Behind you to encourage you.

Above you to watch over you.

And within you to fill you with his life, love, peace, and uncontainable joy.