By David ReayFriday 9 May 2014LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read Romans 14:7-8
The truth is that we neither live nor die as self-contained units. At every turn life links us to God,and when we die we come face to face with him. In life or death we are in the hands of God. Christ lived and died that he might be the Lord in both life and death. (JBP)
We can sometimes come across people who proclaim they have come to a point of such self-discovery that they are no longer captives to the expectations of others. Or to false self-concepts. They are ‘free to be me’. All this sounds good and is in one sense commendable. We don’t want to be the creature of others’ expectations or live according to some twisted idea of our self.
But as our passage reminds us,we dare not live as self-contained units. As if ‘free to be me’ was the greatest good of all. It can be a proclamation of self-discovery or it can be the ultimate in self-centredness.
Linked with our creator God we can be free to be our true best selves. But this freedom is not at the expense of others. The context of this passage is that various Christians were insensitive to the feelings and values of others. In this case,freedom to be oneself is balanced against care for others who think and act differently.
We need to be free to be ‘me’. But the ‘me’ we are free to be is a ‘me’ which is in relationship with others and with God. It is not free to do as I please but the freedom to be the person God made me to be. It is freedom lived out in relationship with others whose freedoms we likewise respect. It is freedom without independence.
Blessings
David Reay