“Freedom does not mean I am able to do whatever I want to do. That’s the worst kind of bondage. Freedom means I have been set free to become all that God wants me to be, to achieve all that God wants me to achieve, to enjoy all that God wants me to enjoy.”
Warren W. Wiersbe
December 1, 1955 was a significant day in history. That was the day Rosa Parks did not give up her seat on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama. “People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. I wasn’t tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.” Sixty years ago tomorrow, Rosa Parks became known as the mother of the freedom movement and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom because she decided enough was enough.
Tomorrow is also a significant day for me; it’s the day I cross over into another decade and turn sixty. God chose the day I was born to be the same day Rosa Parks made a stance in the Civil Rights movement. I can’t help but think God chose that day for my birth because He created me to love liberty.
Like Rosa Parks, I too am tired. I’m tired of seeing people stuck in the slavery of shame. I’m tired of people rejecting others because of their own hurt of rejection. I’m tired of seeing people paralyzed by their fear, not able to move forward in obedience to God. I’m tired of people not forgiving others because their pride blocks the way. In other words, I’m tired of seeing people held captive by their emotional pain.
Jesus quoted Isaiah 61:1 when He spoke of Himself in Luke 4:18: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” This has been a key verse in my life. For the past forty years I have been on a journey toward emotional freedom. I yearn for others to experience the taste of liberty and emotional wholeness, resulting in greater intimacy with God and others, which glorifies God.
I don’t know if God will use me to become a mother of an emotional freedom movement. But I do know He created me sixty years ago, to set captives free in my own circle of influence. For that reason, December 1, 1955 was a significant day in history.
“The only lasting treasure is spiritual; the only perfect freedom is serving God.”
Malcolm Muggeridge
Relevant Reflection:
What were you created for?