F-R-E-E That Spells Free

In the first Madagascar movie, we meet Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Gloria the Hippo, and Melman the giraffe.  (There’re some crazy penguins and later on some even weirder lemurs, but I’m ignoring them for the purposes of this devotional.)  But when we meet the main characters, they’re in the zoo happy, content, being fed, and hanging out with their friends.  Through the course of the movie, they ended up in (you guessed it) Madagascar.  And there’s where we run across the strange lemurs, and with them the unfamiliar surroundings.  They’re scared, and they want to go back home.  They have some self-realization along the way, but overall the theme is getting back to the zoo, back to comfort…back to home. 

In the second movie they end up in Africa (while trying to get back to the zoo) and have a fun adventure in Africa.  They all see where they came from originally and have a little more self-discovery, but they still really just want to get back to New York City…to the zoo where they know what to expect, back to comfort.  It’s the same theme in the third movie, of course.  They go all over Europe with a circus, put on a circus wig, sing a goofy “circus afro” song, and in the end, finally make it back to the zoo…only to find that they really weren’t happy there at all.  They were captives.  They didn’t know freedom.  Sure, there was comfort, and they knew what would happen every day – but they weren’t really free.  It’s what Marty the Zebra wanted in the very first movie…freedom.  By the time they’ve finally made it back to the zoo three movies later, they’ve all known real freedom.  When they finally get back to the familiar, they discover that are eager to break away from that bondage and live in the freedom that they’ve truly lived over the course of their adventures…

Now we’ll jump from Madagascar to the Gospel of John.  Chapter 8 to be specific: 31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” 34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Free indeed?  Ooh, I like that.  And then again in Galatians 5:1 and 13-14: 1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. 13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

So, basically, to me it sounds we’re like the dumb, ol’ animals in Madagascar – on a side note, I think that I would be the witty zebra.  We start off with the sinful nature given to us by Adam…and we think that since we’re doing what we want to do however we want to do it, then we must be free.  Then we hear the message of the Gospel, and we decide to follow Jesus.  But then we start hearing that nagging little devil on our shoulder…and that guy is going to town telling you, “just look at all these RULES!  Boy, this Jesus stuff is cramping your style…I mean, look at all these ‘thou shall nots’ and remember how fun it was back when we shalled?”  And you start thinking that maybe that little guy is right.  Because that life of sin is what was comfortable…it’s what we knew…it’s where our friends are.  And now they’re all going to say we’ve changed, and we’re no fun.  And if I go to church, then those people at church will all judge me for the person I used to be, and the stuff I did.  And yeah, maybe that little devil guy has a point about all these rules.  I mean, I like to covet…being jealous over someone else’s things makes me happy, right? (that was sarcasm)  And I like talking about people behind their backs – or on Facebook.  (not so much sarcasm in that one) So maybe I should leave this foreign land of Christianity and go back to where I was when Jesus found me.

Don’t go back.  Find the true freedom that can be found in Christ.  I mean, c’mon, did you really find yourself happy being jealous over someone’s things.  Or hating someone for 25 years over something that never really mattered?  Is that where you found your happiness?  Was that joy?  No, that wasn’t joy – and you weren’t really free.  No more than the animals in a zoo are free.  They’re alive, but there’s no purpose.  Even in the really fancy zoos, they fix up the cages so that they look really nice – but it’s still in a cage.  It’s an illusion of freedom designed to keep them happy while they’re locked in a box.

But to be free…to be really free…To borrow a line from an old song, “Where all is peace and joy and love” is something we should strive for.  The freedom from hating others.  The freedom from worrying about tomorrow.  The freedom from eternal destruction.  And somewhere Mel Gibson’s William Wallace is screaming FREEEEEDOMMMM!!!  Because it’s really the same speech he gave to his men in the movie.  You may live a long life, but someday dying in your bed, reflecting on your life, you can decide if you were really free.  Or did a ruthless king dictate your every move?  Was your whole life a game of deception trying to hide secrets from your wife, or your work, or the tax man?  Was your whole life a shell game where the truth was hidden under a coconut shell, and you kept slipping the truth around so your wife never discovered your lies?  A shell game so the boss never put two and two together and realized where the money went?  Do you want to spend your entire life in a neatly decorated cage…so that you think you’re free, but basically still just locked in a box?

Or do you want to live free?  The freedom of giving it all to God and saying, “You are the Good Shepherd, and I shall not want.  I trust you to lead me, and to carry me through the storms.”  Because those “rules” that the little devil on your shoulder complains about – are easy rules.  Don’t murder?  Don’t Steal?  Don’t Commit Adultery?  Those are easy – so why do we act like they’re not?  Oh yeah…because there’s always that first one.  “No Other Gods Before Me”…that one always trips us up.  Money, Sports, Women, Ourselves – lots of other gods try to sit where God should be.  And it blocks our freedom because those other gods cause us to have to break all the other rules.  And if we’d just let God be God, and do our role of following Him, then the rules, aren’t really even rules anymore.  To borrow another movie line, They’re more like guidelines than actual rules.  Because we never really have to deal with them if we’re following the right Master.  1 Peter 2:16 says Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.

So Listen for the Whisper that tells you not to chase the freedom you thought you used to have.  That sort of freedom is like a fancy zoo designed to give the illusion of freedom…leading to an empty and pointless existence.  I heard a line in a movie recently, “that’s not living, that’s just not dying.”  Live for the true Freedom given through Jesus Christ.  The Freedom that a parent offers to a child…the freedom to explore, and live happy, and share your joy with others…the freedom where you know the rules, but since you know how to handle freedom, the rules are a moot point.  And more than that, make sure you use your freedom the way the abolitionists used theirs in the late 1800’s.  Use your freedom to help others achieve their own freedom.  If it’s an encouragement they need, then give it.  If it’s a guiding light to help them back to the path, then give it.  If it’s an underground railroad to help someone that’s stuck in slavery to sin to find their way to your freedom, then give them that path.  Reach out your hand…the way Jesus stretched out His…and offer freedom to someone.  Tell them that the water is fine, come on in.  And be sure to help them when they struggle with their freedom. 

It’s like the Stephen King Novella Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption where the character Red has trouble adapting to life outside of his own cage.  Many will truly struggle with the concept of freedom.  Like the animals in Madagascar, they will seemingly always wish they were back where they were – because it’s simpler, and they remember the happiness of familiarity there.  Use the freedom you’ve been given to help someone appreciate their freedom, and help them to understand the freedom they have.  Paul was absolutely right in Galatians, For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."  The trouble comes when we try to mix the freedom we’re given with our old slave mentality.  God’s not going to tell you what to do.  He’s going to tell you what He expects from you, and trust you to be able to handle it.  And if you see someone unsure of how to handle their freedom and do nothing to help them, then you’re not doing a very good job of handling yours.  For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."  Janis Joplin said it this way: “Freedom’s just another word for ‘nothing left to lose’” – and if you’ve given every part of your life to God, you have nothing left to lose.  Trust Him fully and know true freedom.

~Dwayne

ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.net

http://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com

Mister October

I have to say that as far as Octobers go, this one shapes up to be a good one for me.  Despite a mild depression over having turned 40 in September, I have a lot to look forward to this October.  We have a trip to Branson planned.  We’re going to see a Beatles tribute band on Halloween.  My wife’s paternal grandmother will be celebrating her 90^th birthday…which by the way is more than double 40 so “Yay, Mammaw” for making me feel young!  And not least of which is the baseball playoffs.  Being a Braves fan, October has provided me with something to look forward to since the early 90’s.  Being a Cardinals fan as well, it’s given me something ELSE to look forward to, just in case.  The St. Louis fan in me seems to be rewarded with World Series trophies more often than the Atlanta is, but what can you do?  And usually by October the football season is shaping up, and I have a good feel on how the Razorbacks and Red Wolves will be doing.  And based on the play of Minnesota and New Orleans and the other teams in their divisions, I can usually get a feel by October whether there’s going to be any vested interest in the football playoffs come December and January.  And again, here lately, the New Orleans fan in me seems to be getting the better part of that deal.  The Vikings fan in me seems to be continually screaming, “My kingdom for a quarterback!”

The college football fan in me never has any conflict.  Arkansas State never plays the University of Arkansas, so every Saturday I can openly root for both to win.  That’s not always the case in pro football or the baseball playoffs, though.  And those are the times that duplicitous part of me that claims to love the Atlanta Braves AND the St. Louis Cardinals has to pick a side.  Same for the lying part of me that says I love the Minnesota Vikings AND the New Orleans Saints.  Especially THIS year as St. Louis and Atlanta came down to the wire over home field advantage throughout the playoffs.  I’m happy for St. Louis, but being honest with myself…I was REALLY pulling for Atlanta.  Of course, as I go back and proofread this devotional to get it ready to go out, they’re both down 2 games to 1 in their different series and on the brink of elimination, and neither may make it to the next round – so there’s a “chickens before they hatch” devotional in there somewhere.  But when the rare instance comes up that Minnesota plays New Orleans…it’s the one game a year that I really hope New Orleans takes a loss.  Regular season or playoffs doesn’t matter…when it gets down to brass tacks (whatever the entomology of that phrase…I’ll google it at some point), I’ll always pick Atlanta and Minnesota as my favorites.

And surely you’ve figured out the point by now…Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13, of course.  No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  That is to say, at some point you will find something on God’s throne in your heart…something…anything that’s NOT God.  The typical translation of the end of both verses reads “You cannot serve both God and money.”  But in truth, it’s not just money.  The original greek word is “μαμωνᾶς” – which usually gets transliterated mammon…with the usual translation of “worldly wealth”.  But it’s actually the comprehensive word used for every kind of valuable or material good.  It’s not wealth as a collective unit like we usually think of wealth.  It’s anything.  So where this usually gets looked at from a God vs Money or God vs Your Collection of Stuff, that’s not really accurate either.  It’s a simple matter of You cannot serve both God and anything you have that’s NOT God.

For Abraham, his mammon was Isaac.  For the Israelites it was a golden calf.  At one point for David, it was Bathsheba.  For Solomon in his later life, his mammon became women.  For me (among other things), it’s the gluttony of not knowing when to say “enough” when I’m eating.  It’s a struggle to turn away from the mammon.  It burrows in like a tick in a dog’s ear.  So I’m not saying it’s easy to get your mammon evicted from God’s throne, I’m just saying it’s an absolute necessity.  Exodus 20:4,5 is where God is laying down the Law for Moses in the form of the Ten Commandments…”The Decalogue” if you like to use fancy words (like using Pentateuch for the first five books of the Old Testament or duplicitous like I did earlier).  But either way, that’s where God tells Moses that He is a jealous God, and that man should not bow to anything – regardless of what it looks like.  Whether it looks like something in the Heavens, or something on the Earth, or something in the water.  (And as a side note, I find it ironic that we make golden crosses and plaster the “Jesus fish” on just about everything.  Not judging, just observing.)  But whether it looks like a new car, a football team, a spouse, a child…even if your mammon looks just like you, it doesn’t matter.  And there’s nothing wrong with any of those things in and of themselves.  They’re only wrong if instead of keeping the car in the garage or the football team on the field, you start putting them in God’s seat…and refuse to ever let Him take it back.

So as the sports-filled month of October gets geared up, and your team plays their team…or maybe your team plays your other team, Listen for the Whisper that tells you that God should always be your favorite team.  Whenever God competes with whatever other team you root for – gluttony, pride, vanity, deceitfulness, dishonesty, rudeness, vulgarity, complacency, or whatever yours is – that when comes down to it, God needs to be to us what the Atlanta Braves are for me in baseball and the Minnesota Vikings are for me in football.  Regardless of who God is competing against, we need to hope He wins.  It’s His throne, and we like to let all sorts of other things sit in it.  But none of them belong.  Like Goldilocks trespassing in the home of the three bears, the throne isn’t made for those for other things…and they’ll find the throne too hot or too cold, or too hard or too soft.  But for God, His throne is just right.  It’s His throne, and He alone belongs on it.  As humans, we’ll always be tempted from time to time to place something else where God is supposed to be in our lives.  But we can’t serve two masters…God knew that about us way back when He was giving us the Ten Commandments, and even farther back when Abraham decided that maybe Isaac belonged on God’s throne in his heart - and God knows it about us today.  So the question really boils down to this – can you support the coupe that wants the rightful King on the throne, or are you content to be complacent and support whatever “king” happens to be sitting in God’s throne in your life at the moment?  God’s told us that He’s a jealous God.  Are you willing to test that over a football team or a new car?  Or can you accept that God alone will sit on His throne, and let your only complacency come from being content to bow before God’s throne?

~Dwayne

ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.net
http://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com