There is this new movie, Frozen, which is a big hit with my kids, and a lot of others as well. One of the main story lines is about this princess born with great power, but she lives in fear of discovery. Her parents keep her hidden away in solitude. There comes a day when her power is revealed and she runs away to break free. When she is alone on a mountain top she sings a song of freedom from fear and freedom from having to be perfect. Ultimately it is a song of embracing the power within you.
As I was listening to my daughter sing this song the other day something occurred to me. When we are in the world, we are surrounded by fear and solitude. There is no real help outside of what we can do on our own. And at the end, we are alone in our journey.
After we receive Christ, we have a great power. We have great freedom; from trying to be perfect because of grace and freedom from fear because of our salvation. We can confidently say, Galatians 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery!”
But our empowered ice queen then makes a crucial error. She thinks that she can live apart from people in her mountaintop castle. She thinks that she is in no need of anyone else. It is only in the end that she recognizes her error, but is also presented with the solution. Simply put, it is love. True love is the balance that saves her. She has freedom but without love, she is still lost and alone.
Paul describes this in 1 Corinthians. In Chapter 9:19-23 he says, “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more…I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.” He continues on to chapter 13 where he speaks of the greatest gift: LOVE.
When we have been set free by God’s love in Christ, our response is to live in freedom, but with a view of love towards those around us. We are called to a life of loving service to one another.
– Bill Williams, Jackson Church of Christ, Jackson, MO
Scripture of the Week
1 Corinthians 1:18-19: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: „I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.‟”
Something to Smile About
• All my life I thought air was free…until I bought a bag of chips.
• Never laugh at your spouse’s choices….YOU are one of them.
• Oh! I offend you with my opinion? You should hear the ones I keep to myself!
• Okay, so you are 10 years old, you have a laptop, iPod, Facebook and a blackberry….When I was 10, I only had one thing to play with….it was called “OUTSIDE.”
• People write congrats because they can’t spell congrajlashins.Think About It
“Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing.” — Benjamin Franklin
“Every man should keep a fair-sized cemetery in which to bury the faults of his friends.” — Henry Ward Beecher
“There is as much difference between the counsel that a friend gives, and that a man gives himself, as there is between the counsel of a friend and of a flatterer. For there is no such flatterer as is a man’s self.” — Francis Bacon
“Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light.” — Helen Keller
“The strength of a man consists in finding out the way in which God is going, and going in that way too.” — Henry Ward Beecher
“Through the dark and stormy night
Faith beholds a feeble light,
Up the blackness streaking;
Knowing God’s own time is best,
In a patient hope I rest
For the full day-breaking!”
— John Greenleaf Whittier
