DAY 28
Devotional by Alyssa Klingmeyer
I have two small children ages 3 and 1, and every time I take them out of their car seats, they tend to RUN (yes, run..) away from me. My three year old Jax goes on to tell me he never wants to go into the car seat again! He has been harnessed for all of three minutes to go down the street to get ice cream and you’d think he’d been locked in the car for hours. Why is it that as kids we don’t like to wear restraints (or even as adults maybe)? Because it’s uncomfortable – there is a whole car they could be roaming around in, rather than being stuck in a small seat watching everything from that chair.
Every time I see Jax “book it” out of the car, I just laugh (while also keeping a watch on him to make sure he isn’t running into the street or anything like that… don’t worry), because he has experienced once again true freedom, and I know that getting him back into that car seat when we have to leave is going to be a battle. As funny as this is, I think it is a great picture of how we can live our lives, except we are the ones putting ourselves back into the car seat/bondage, not God. We experience freedom and love it, and yet for some reason, time and time again, we find ourselves (if we aren’t careful), put back in the harness or car seat not experiencing the freedom that God has for us. Can I remind you today that as it says in Galatians 5:1 MSG – “Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you” that WE (yes, YOU) have been set free?! That you don’t need to live ‘car seat’ bound any longer.
I love that this year’s Devoted Conference theme is freedom… Why? Because I’m pretty sure we all need to be reminded of the freedom that Christ has for us. I know too many people that settle for less than God has for them because they have just gotten used to living bound in their car seat. Truth be told, I can find myself there sometimes if I am not careful. I can find myself bound by fear (hello crazy articles you see on Facebook about kids), bound by insecurity (hello social media and the comparison trap) when God has not called us to live in this ‘bondage,’ but to live in true freedom.
So, if you haven’t experienced freedom in any, some or all of these areas, can I encourage you to pray that God will set you free? Why? Because He will! Maybe freedom from words spoken over your life? Freedom from depression? Freedom from fear? Freedom from anxiety? Whatever it may be, I promise you that God can and will set you free – start asking Him to. It is for Freedom that Christ has set YOU free!