{"id":21292,"date":"2017-02-11T00:10:04","date_gmt":"2017-02-11T08:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lccredding.com\/lcc\/?p=10048"},"modified":"2017-02-11T00:10:04","modified_gmt":"2017-02-11T08:10:04","slug":"february-11-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2017\/02\/11\/february-11-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"February 11, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/em> Galatians 5:1<\/span><\/p>\n

Freedom<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

I didn\u2019t know there was a fly in the car until it suddenly buzzed past my face one way, and then the other. It had been still while I opened and shut the door, seatbelted in, and turned the key in the ignition. But once the car started moving, so did the fly. I imagine the movement woke it up, and it realized once again that it was trapped.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cue fly panic\u2014panic leading to frantic flying. What does it feel like to see freedom just on the other side of the glass that keeps stopping you from ever moving forward? Do you even realize that the glass is solid, though you can see outside of it? Do you think this lack of being able to fly beyond is all in your own head, and that if you would just try harder, you would eventually be able to get farther than you have ever gotten before, and finally, suddenly be unstuck? But no. It\u2019s not possible. A fly can never be strong enough to fly through a glass window. And you and I can never be strong enough to break out of whatever place we have found ourselves entrapped.<\/span><\/p>\n

But a fly in a car on the freeway is a nuisance and a driving hazard, so I opened a window. I opened another. It was to everyone\u2019s benefit that the fly be free. I watched, hopefully, as it started out the passenger window and then just as quickly flew right back into the car. Was it shocked, overwhelmed, at the feel of fresh air? The sudden bigness of the whole world, so much bigger than the cab of my car, with its stale air? Or did it simply not realize that it was free?<\/span><\/p>\n

A fly is a creature of very little brain. And yet how alike we are, aren\u2019t we? I don\u2019t know what window needs to be rolled down to free you from your own confinement; I don\u2019t know what level of freedom overwhelms you enough to want to turn and snuggle up into your old entrapments again. But I know that you were not meant for the stuffy air confined space of it. So to whatever freedom you fear, I would like to remind you that the Christ who died to set you free is Love Himself. And He will never leave you.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no fear in love. But perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.\u201d<\/em> 1 John 4:18<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDear Lord Jesus, thank You for setting us free. Please teach us how to be free. I pray for the continuing freedom of those of us who are still learning to trust Your perfect love in our freedom. In Jesus\u2019 Name, Amen.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p92wjD-5xq","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21292\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}