Saturday, May 3, 2008

Sabbath Day

Once a year Hume gives each employee a paid day to be alone with the Lord... a time to reflect, pray and just spend time with Him. The rule is that we can't be around other people and can pretty much only bring along the scriptures... and then just see what God does. So two weeks ago April, Peter and I headed out to Colorado for an extended weekend. While April and Peter hung out with my parents, I headed to the mountains for a day away from it all and waited to see what God would teach me.

Leading up to this time I have been seriously desiring that I become a man of God that is led by the Spirit day in and day out. Arriving at our place in Westcliffe, the temp was probably around 25 and the sky was as clear as could be. I headed out for a hike through the snow-covered forest and found a beautiful spot where I could sit down and just start to read and reflect. As I opened my journal, I found an original entry that talked about my desire to be Spirit-led in life. It referenced Galatians 5:16. So off to Galatians 5 I went and there the Lord met me on that Friday.

What I learned over the next several hours in the stillness of the Colorado mountains was that the whole point of what Christ did was freedom. It is for freedom that Christ set us free. And with that I'm on a whole new quest to truly understand the freedom that God gives us in Christ. He set us free from a life of regulation. He set us free from our sin. And he set us free from the punishment that goes along with that sin. I was overwhelmed with those three things, because I'm definitely one that tends to atone for his own sin whenever possible.

So as I live this life of freedom in Christ, I gain a new understanding that being Spirit-led happens because of the freedom that Christ gives us. It's totally an oxymoron, yet one of the most beautiful things that God has done for us.

Now I've decided to study the entire book of Galatians and I seriously can't wait to see what He has in store for me next. Hopefully more to come later.

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