Freedom - what is it? When you see a bird in a cage, you
know it is not free. Instinctively you know something is terribly wrong. You know
this is not right. A bird should not be caged! Eagles soar, and wrens forage;
lambs skip and lions roar; whales roam the oceans, but not all. Some men are
free, and others are not.
I value my freedom above all else. Without freedom I would
loose my very soul – the heart of my being. I have freedom in Christ, and at
the moment, in this country I can express my love of Him without fear of
imprisonment, without fear of torture, or fear of death. That has not been the
case with millions of Christians over the past two thousand years, and is not
the case in parts of the world today. I think of the Christian lady in Sudan
who was imprisoned for apostasy, and was forced to give birth to her daughter
while chained to a bed.* She has been given a reprieve of two years in prison for
nursing her daughter, after which she will receive 100 lashes and be hanged.
This afternoon I had the freedom to walk beside the River
Crouch at Fambridge which is a very special place for me. Some of the happiest
days of my life have been there, where the sky stretches to infinity and the
turning tides harmoniously rise and fall in unity with the pulse of the oceans at
the behest of the moon.
I saw a young couple rolling in mud, glorious mud, nothing
quite like it for cooling the blood, on a very hot afternoon. I saw children
with their parents searching for crabs. I felt the soft wind and heard terns
squabble and a pheasant’s call.
There was peace and freedom by the river today. Although
alone, I did not walk alone. The One who walked on water was there too.
(Matthew 14:26)
Galatians 5:1 ‘Stand
fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be
entangled again with a yoke of bondage.’
Links
*Jailed Sudanese Christian Woman Chained to Bed during Birth
of Daughter
Sentenced to death for being thirsty
Christian woman sentenced to death in Pakistan ‘for blasphemy’
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