Freedom

I love getting coordinated messages.  Today in church, my pastor started a new series on "freedom."  This is such an important topic because there is so much freedom that comes with the Christian life.  Freedom from worry (Matthew 6:25-34).  Freedom from fear (Psalm 27:1).  Freedom from insecurity (2 Corinthians 2:19).  Freedom to experience joy in pain (James 1:2-6).  The list could go on and on. 

Unfortunately, many of us (including myself) don't live in that freedom.  We fret about things.  We live in fear of things that rarely become a reality.  We try to do things on our own strength.  We lament our trials to the point we are crippled from moving on past them.  As my pastor noted, the root cause of all these emotions is a lack of faith. 

Interestingly, I just started Eric Mason's new book Beat God to the Punch, due out September 15, 2014.  I planned to make it my week's lunchtime reading.  I skimmed through it and spent some time on the last chapter on freedom.  Just a few hours later, my church sermon focused on the very same topic.  Both the chapter and sermon made me wonder if there are areas in my life where I'm not admitting a lack of faith?  Am I unnecessarily suffering from anxiety, fear or insecurities?  Mason and my pastor challenged me to dig deeper to answer these questions.  This is a challenge I'm willing (and probably need) to take.  I hope to share more about Beat God to the Punch next week!