Reality & The Thread Of Freedom

At the end of the last article, I noticed something about Jesus’ teachings that genuinely excited me.

At first glance, many of His commands sound oppressive—as if God is trying to take something away.

Just look at the vocabulary of the New Testament:

Fear the Lord?

Deny yourself?

Be last?

Serve others?

Lose your life?

That sounds like the recipe for a restrictive, weak, and joyless life.

But everything changes when you stop looking through the lens of self-rule and start looking through the lens of the King’s rule.

From the King’s perspective, they aren’t restrictive rules at all. They’re invitations to live according to reality as it truly is.

Jesus isn’t asking us to give up something good.

He’s asking us to give up a lie.

That lie says, “My way is better than God’s way.”

Instead, He’s gently saying, “Stop trying to be God, and discover how much better He is at it than you.”

You’d think that obvious truth would be tattooed across my heart after 40 years of throne-stealing experience, but… slow learner over here.

Taken together, these commands tell one unified story about how to live under the reign of the King.

Fear the Lord — There is one King, and it isn’t me.

Deny yourself — Step down from the throne.

Follow Me — Trust the King’s leadership and walk behind the One who knows the way.

Serve others — Live for the King’s purposes rather than your own.

The last will be first — Stop competing for significance because your identity and worth are already secure in Him.

Lose your life — Entrust your entire life to Him and discover the life you were created for.

What a liberating reality.

What once sounded like loss now sounds like freedom.

I don’t have to frantically build an identity.

I don’t have to exhaust myself defending a throne that doesn’t belong to me anyway.

I don’t have to spend my days proving to the world that I matter.

The pressure of being in charge is off.

I am free to be who God created me to be—a child in a loving relationship with her Father.

But what about the times when I can’t perceive that relationship?