real freedom

hi friends!

so this morning i led our Loft group (young adults) at church - we are reading/studying Ruth.

and the thing that hit me most while studying chapter 2 of Ruth was the amazing freedom that grace brings.

and in Ruth we see her ask to glean from the field, and she, as a foreigner, has no right to it and Boaz doesnt have to allow her to stay.

But he does, he tells her that not only can she stay - but that she is to only come to his land, to stay close to the other servants, that his workers have been instructed not to harm her, and that she can have the water from the wells when she wants, and take as much barley as she wants.

and she is so moved by this grace that she falls to the ground and says - "why? why do you give me all this? im a foreigner..." she could have just accepted and walked away...but she didnt. she made him very aware (if he wasnt already) that she didnt deserve it, that she wasnt entitled.

and he stops her and says - i know everything. i have been told ALL about you...

and again she falls on her face and says - you have comforted me...

such AMAZING freedom that must have brought her!!! such a huge sigh of relief. because she told him the truth, she opened herself up he was able to respond with "i already know everything..." freeing her from living under the constant fear of "being found out" or having him hear something about her past that would make him take it all back or change his mind.

but he tells her - i already know.

what if she hadnt been open with him? what if she had just walked away?

she never would have had the opportunity to hear him say - i already know...and i give you all this still.

and just like Christ wants to tell us...i know all about you, all you have done and all you will do. and i love you still. nothing will make Him take His gift back. but until we confess, until we are OPEN with Him....we will live in the constant fear and worry that He will find something, that He will see something that will make Him change His mind. that we somehow need to earn His love and gifts...and until we tell Him everything, until we let Him see into every single part of us...He cant answer us with - i already know...and i love you still.

and we will never be truly free.

in Galatians 5 - it tells us that we have been freed, we are called to freedom... and we are not to submit again to a yoke of slavery...

part of that freedom is that we are not obligated to do anything. God does not force us to do anything.

He WANTS us to love Him, wants us to obey, to follow. He WANTS us to come to Him and open up our hearts fully, to be honest and humble with Him so that He can free us from the things that we try so hard to hide, the things that weigh us down and hold us in chains. the things that keep us from truly being able to be loved by the one who wants so desperately to free us.

so take some time, i know i need to, to really talk with Jesus. to share your heart with Him...the good, the bad, the fear, the shame - all of it. get it all out in the open.

lets embrace our freedom and not submit to slavery again!