Posts Tagged: How do we use our freedom?
“A Very Human Chipmunk”
I met a very human chipmunk yesterday. It was caught in some netting that we had put around our raspberries to protect the fruit against birds—and other little opportunists such as the aforementioned chipmunk.
Sharon noticed the chipmunk. I did not. I was already running late for my softball game and did not feel obliged to be in the rescue business. Sharon didn’t want the rodent to die slowly, but I had a solution: I regret to inform you that I proposed bashing the little critter’s head in and putting him/her out of his/her misery (and ours) quickly.
However, my wife’s tender heart melted my own heart. Being the occasionally dutiful husband that I am, I got out some clippers and began to cut the netting. Of course, the chipmunk thought of me as a predator and started frantically trying to escape. This had a predictable effect: The more the chipmunk squirmed, the more enmeshed he became.
But finally, I cut the netting enough to let the little varmint run away. And what he did he do with his newfound freedom? He ran straight into the netting again. By now, I was committed. I cut the netting—again. Again, he ran into the netting, but this time, he wiggled free and dashed under the wooden privacy fence and into our neighbor’s yard.
I don’t really know God very well, but a persistent rumor has it that God is in the rescue business with humans. We get ourselves into trouble again and again, and can’t get ourselves out. We sell our souls for less important things than raspberries. We squirm and struggle and can’t seem to get free. In fact, we get more and more tangled up.
But there is Jesus, who said, “If the son sets you free, you are really free.” (John 10:10) God notices our fatal predicament and does something radically crazy. He sends his son to get us out of the mess that we had gotten ourselves into.
That is wonderful, good news. However, I need to ask myself what I am to do with my freedom. There’s got to be a better choice than using my freedom to run into the same net again.
How about loving God who freed me, and loving people who are either caught in the net or who have been given their freedom too?
Let’s live free today! Also, let’s be on the lookout for our fellow chipmunks who are caught in a net and see if we can be of service to them.
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus” November 11, 2024“Col. 3:1 ¶ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col. 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden […]
- “Search Me!” October 27, 2024“Psa. 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, English Standard Version) I am participating in a Bible study, and this is a prayer […]
- “Christian Speech” October 26, 2024“Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Foulkes, in his excellent commentary on the Book of Ephesians, writes the following, which I quote at some length: “29. Now the […]
- “God is in the Details” October 11, 2024“The devil is in the details.” (A general saying, often quoted by lawyers, reporters, and negotiators.) “God is in the details.” (Me, almost certainly not original.) “Luke 12:7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Jesus) God does not micromanage, but God […]
- “Grandma’s Pump” October 8, 2024When I was a little critter, I would stay at my grandma’s house for a night or two sometimes. I liked this for a lot for many reasons. One thing I liked about staying with her was that Grandma’s house was much more technologically advanced than ours was. For one thing, she had indoor water—sort […]
- “Wearing the #14 Wrong-Side-Out” October 5, 2024Pete Rose, #14, is dead. Many of the old guys with whom I play softball watched him play and appreciated him greatly. I do as well. He was one of the greatest players who ever played the game. Yes, he admitted (eventually) to betting on baseball. But many of us still regard him as one […]
- “Passing Along the Love (and a Link)” October 4, 2024Several years ago, a friend of mine put me onto a daily meditation by Richard Rohr and friends. I don’t read them all the time, but I probably should. They are good! I thought that today’s writing was especially good, and I also figured that this would be a good way to post something. I […]
- “Witnessing Versus Being Witnesses” September 19, 2024“Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, Acts 1:2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after […]
- “A Bathroom Prayer for Hurting Hands” September 11, 2024A week ago Sunday, my hands were hurting so badly at church that I went to the bathroom to run hot water over my hands. Arthritis perhaps, or carpal tunnel, or general orneriness—I don’t know why my hands hurt, but they do. They have for years. So, while I was running hot water over my […]
- “Waiting and Seeking” September 10, 2024“Lam. 3:19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! Lam. 3:20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. Lam. 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Lam. 3:22 ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD […]
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