Scared of Freedom?

I just finished a 10 day cleanse yesterday!  It was a jump start for a weight loss journey that I am needing to begin!  I have not been eating as healthy as I should and have gained quite a bit of weight!  With this cleanse you pretty much eat the same thing over and over again each day adding a few small changes the further you progress (but not much)!  Needless to say I was very tired of eating chicken soup and salad over and over again!!!  Last night at supper I thought tomorrow I get to have variety!  I can't wait!

So, this morning I was thinking about what I was going to have for lunch.  I don't have the ingredients here for what I had put on my meal plan so I had to think of something else.  Guess what I actually thought, I should just eat that chicken soup again today!  I know it's the right balance of the foods I should eat.  I know how much of it I should eat!  It would be easy and I would know I am staying on track!  Am not hungry for it at all!  Really have no desire to eat it!  (It is good soup, but after 10 days of eating it repeatedly it gets old!)  Then I was shocked as it hit me after 10 days of wanting to eat almost anything else, I was on the brink of choosing to eat it!  I have the freedom to eat a wide variety of different foods, why would I choose to eat that same soup again??  Why would I do that?  Because it's safe and comfortable!  The results of eating it are predictable!

As I stood there thinking about this the Lord showed me two spiritual parallels to this!  The first one was sinful patterns that we get stuck in!  While we are stuck in them, we want to get out!  We don't want to stay in those sinful patterns!  We would like to do anything but those things!  But, we all have a choice to do things differently, why don't we?  All too often, as much as we would like to change, we are scared to!  Our sin, as much as we may not like it, is comfortable.  We know life this way!  It's the easy way!  But, Christ died to give you freedom from sin!  Don't waste it!  I promise you that even though it might not be easy, the results of letting that go and embracing the freedom that Christ has for you will be worth it!

The other parallel He showed me was all too often we do the "safe" thing!  We follow all the rules.  We read our Bible each day and we are kind to our neighbors!  We do things the way our parents did them or the way other people from our church do them because we have seen the results!  We know exactly what happens when we do things this way.  It's safe and it's predictable!  If I live my cookie cutter Christian life, all will be good!  But, you know what else?!  Christ didn't just die to give us freedom from our sinful patterns but freedom from just following the rules!  He died to give us a personal relationship with Him!  Two relationships never look the same!  We need to be willing to dare to be different!  To break the mold that we have been expected to fit into!  Jesus didn't fit the mold that everyone expected Him to fit into!  He doesn't want us to all live easy predictable lives!  He wants us to be the unique sons and daughters of His that He created us to be!  He has given us each a purpose and a unique calling!  Embrace that!  Don't stay in your safe little bubble!  When the Spirit is calling you to something, take some risks!  Be willing to stop "eating your chicken soup" every day and try something different!  Step out of your comfort zone and allow the Holy Spirit to move!  How much of what you are doing is because the Holy Spirit has called you there and how much of it is because it's what you've always done??  I challenge you to really begin to seek God and ask Him to show you where you need to step out and be different!  How does He want to use you in a way you may not have expected?  It may not always even be popular!  Some people may not understand!  The religious people didn't understand Jesus!

So, anyway, just some thoughts I had this morning!  Thought I would share!  But, if I look back and read this several days from now and it makes no sense, I am not going to take responsibility for what I wrote.  It was 10 days of chicken soup and salad talking!  ;)