The Father's Freedom

The Father wants our freedom



He was tall and thin and pale and had the bushiest--shockingly bushy--eyebrows I had ever seen.  Walter was a retired school teacher who drove up the mountain to camp every day to run the zipline over the lake for the boys who wanted to soar out over the water.  

He slowly carried the two heavy pulleys down the road, haul them up the tower with himself, and then yell out in his southern baritone, "Let the HIGH WIRE FLY!"  


This was the signal for the boy, held up only by the strength of his hands, who would launch himself over the flat water 20 feet below and gather speed as he raced to the shallows near the opposite bank.  Soaked and exhilarated, the boy would then unfasten the pulley and lug it back along the road.  


It wasn't so much Walter's age nor his physical characteristics that resonate with the mental picture I have of God the Father:  it was instead his pure delight in seeing boys free and joyful and delighted.  He would chuckle as they launched themselves out into into space.  He was patient and encouraging "That a boy--you can do it--look how strong you are!"  as the child half-dragged the the 12 pound piece of metal back to the tower for another launch into the air.  He took such obvious joy in our freedom--that moment when we overcame the limits of gravity and set out on a wind-ripping adventure. 


Walter knew this joy himself because, old though he was, he was a child of our heavenly Father.  Every time he gave a testimony at campfire or Sunday service he sparkling eyes would begin to weep almost unbecomingly as he told us of the Father's love.  He recounted the story of the leper who came to Jesus saying, "Lord if you will, you can make me clean."  and how Jesus touched him and said, "I will, be clean."  


The leper's freedom from disease had become Walter's freedom from sin and guilt.  The leper's joy in knowing the love of God had become Walters joy in knowing himself to be a child of the Father.  The way he exhorted the boys to drag the weight to him, how he did the heavy lifting, it was all in keeping with Jesus who said, "come to me you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will refresh you, take my yoke upon you." 

Jesus is the most free man ever to live.  Never was there a man so free of need, anxiety or attachment.  Never was there a man so free from soul crushing affects of the disapproval of others, nor so free from the need to please.  Never was there a man so able to go “as the wind blows.”  Yet his whole life was centered on obeying his Father.  In his active ministry he ordered his steps with military precision achieving goal after goal undeterred by any outside concern...but he always had time to bless little children. 

This is the Father's heart:  our freedom from sin; our knowledge of his love.  This is his yoke.

Father you delight in my freedom.  You are the most free being in the universe and your delight is that I become like you.  You have delivered me from sin and death in your Son Jesus.  You have placed my burden upon him and now the weight of guilt, the iron of the nails of the cross, are fashioned in his hands into an instrument of flight.  Help me to understand that true freedom is doing your will and that you will that I be separated from the bondage of my past.  Complete the work you have begun in me.  Let me soar with Jesus unshackled by the world, the flesh, and the devil.  Give me grace to walk with you all the days of my life.