free to be
Today has been an uneventful day really. I haven’t done much and to be honest, I didn’t go to church this morning. I meant to, but for some reason I slept in yet again. I think I am to the point in my life that I am trying to do so much during the week that by the time Sunday comes around I really am just worn out. I hate that, but that is my excuse for now.
I don’t feel as guilty this Sunday as I did last Sunday, but I have been feeling really convicted lately about a lot of things in my life; one of those things is not going to church. I won’t bore you with all those details, but basically I am really hoping that I can learn to be more righteous. That word is scary to me, but I really want to become the “best” (to use our word from the last blog) person I can be. Righteous, according to Merriam-Webster, actually means “acting in accord with divine or moral law: free from guilt or sin.” Now, the second part of that definition is what is most interesting to me.
In particular the word “free” sounds so good. I can’t help but think of all the things I would like to be free from: sickness, debt, guilt, etc. I mean, to be free really means to not have to worry about, right? If I am free from it, then I don’t have to think about it. The reality of life is that things continue to pop up in all our lives that we have to worry about: bills, eating, for some of us parents, etc. But here’s the thing, when these “things” in our life begin to weigh us down or become something we are worrying about, we are to take it to Jesus.
In Mark 1:40 a guy walks up to Jesus who has leprosy. Now, I am sure many of you know this already, but leprosy is something that in that day and time you couldn’t get rid of. It was a disease that there was no cure for. Now, there are some diseases even today that have no cure, but for the most part, I think we can look at this disease as something in our own life that we can’t seem to shake. For example, any addiction that we have could be seen as something similar to leprosy, although leprosy is definitely not an addiction.
I think what is so great about this story is that this guy actually believes that Jesus can heal him from his disease. Even greater is that upon him going to Jesus, the Scripture says that Jesus had compassion and healed him. I don’t know what all you all deal with, but I do know this, we can take our junk to Jesus, leave it, and Jesus will free us.
The only way I can become righteous is to be free. How do I become righteous? I have to go to Jesus and let Him mold me and make me into someone like Him, free of guilt and sin.
To be completely honest, I don’t really know how all that works, but I know it does. The more I pursue Christ, the more I am convicted, and then the more I am freed when I just give it to Him. I know it is hard to give things to God. Trust me, I know. I struggle with that all the time. But if this Scripture is saying anything at all to me, it is that Jesus is compassionate and wants to free us all from whatever makes us sick. For this guy, it was leprosy. For me and you, it may be selfishness, pride, cancer, or whatever.
As we continue to push forward in life, let’s give the things that worry us to Jesus. In doing so, we will become free. Better yet, we will be on our way to becoming righteous.