Free to RUN & PLAY!

Vacation with the family is fun.  It’s nice to escape from the everyday.  To get away and just be together.  What is not fun is fitting my husband, our three boys ages 3 and under and I, and all our stuff into our little car, and traveling for hours on end to get to our vacation. 
 
If spending all day trapped in a car is difficult for us as adults, it’s even tougher for the little ones.  While we still maintain some mobility with seat belts, they are strapped in tight to confining car seats.  While we see a light at the end of the trip, knowing that we will eventually arrive at our destination to relax and have fun for a few days, they don’t understand the concept of travel and have no idea why it would take so long to get there.  While we have to take repeated deep breaths and open the window on occasion to deal with the crying, whining, and screaming coming from the back seat, they are expressing their extreme discomfort and displeasure by said crying, whining, and screaming.
 
Our nature fights against being confined.  We resist being tied down.  We hate limits.  Why?  Because we were created to live in freedom!  A freedom we can only receive through the sacrifice Jesus made for us.  A freedom to live! 
 
That’s what I was reminded of as I watched my boys run and play at the rest stop.  They had been set free and were living out that freedom.  And they were loving it!  Are you living out your freedom?  Am I?  Don’t live like a slave.  You’ve been set free.  

So RUN!  PLAY!  SMILE!

 
Christ has set us free to live a free life.  So take your stand!  Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.
 
Galations 5:1

 
A new power is in operation.  The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.
 
Romans 8:2

 
“Therefore God says, ‘I am against all the devices and techniques you use to hunt down souls.  I’ll rip them out of your hands.  I’ll free the souls you’re trying to catch.  I’ll rip your magic bracelets and scarves to shreds and deliver my people from your influence so they’ll no longer be victimized by you.  That’s how you’ll come to realize that I am God.
 
Ezekiel 13:20-21