“The Truth shall make you free…Whoseoever commiteth sin, is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house forever; but the Son abideth ever. If the son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
”
To the slave at heart, God had no right to create beings less than himself; and as he could not create equal, he ought not to have created! But they do not complain of having been created; they complain of being required to do justice. They will not obey, but, his own handiwork, ravish from his work every advantage they can! They desire to be free with another kind of freedom than that with which God is free; unknowing, they seek a more complete slavery. There is, in truth, no midway between absolute harmony with the Father and the condition of slaves—submissive, or rebellious. If the latter, their very rebellion is by the strength of the Father in them. They do not see that, if his work, namely, they themselves, are the chief joy to themselves, much more might the life that works them be a glory and joy to them. For nothing can come so close as that which creates; the nearest, strongest, dearest relation possible is between creator and created. Where this is denied, the schism is the widest; where it is acknowledged and fulfilled, the closeness is unspeakable. The liberty of the God that would have his creature free is in contest with the slavery of the creature who would cut his own stem from his root that he might call it his own and love it; who rejoices in his own consciousness, instead of the life of that consciousness; who poises himself on the tottering wall of his own being, instead of the rock on which that being is built.
Commentary
by Dale Darling
Fearfully and wonderfully made.
Father, help us know that all things are for Thy glory and our freedom.
This pain, the grief of slavery to self, is only apparent because the minutia of every
organic, chemical operation works, has its source and is sustained in and by Jesus. All glorifies Him, willingly or not, when oxygenated blood feeds every cell according to His design. The thought that made it so, keeps it so.
Where He is acknowledged, the nearest, strongest, dearest relation possible: He initiates and gifts faith to say Yes Lord, Yes, the unspeakable closeness fulfilled man's freedom from self, oneness with the Father in Jesus Christ our Lord.
I stand in awe of and am humbled by the lilies of the valley and the sparrows in the air.
And how much more....
Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
Love thy neighbor.
Go into all the world, glorifying God in freedom.