Dear Christian,

For you were called to Freedom...

There is something about sharing your life with a stranger that is freeing. It's an, “I'm comfortable enough with who I am to let others in.” I'm talking about sharing the ugly, dirty and painful moments--of course the good ones also. The moments where you were scared to death but so full of excitement. Like a first kiss. The moments where you have to take the jump and you're not sure where you're going to land or if you'll land at all. I am comfortable enough with who I am to be who I am around you. That means I am free from me. So I am free from you. That is true freedom.

Oftentimes people think freedom means doing whatever you want, but that would just make you a slave to yourself. A slave to desire. That makes you no more free than anyone else. 

How can we get free from the “me”? It's quite simple. We die to the “I” in ourselves. We stop putting the “myself” before everything else. Christ said, “Pick up your cross and follow me.” We people don't really like the thought of dying, let alone dying to ourselves. We have done a great job of making “I” very important in our own little world. We often forget that when Christ says, “Follow me” it means he is leading us somewhere. He is taking his followers to a new place. Imagine a world where everyone put others before him or herself--where there isn't a selfish act because everyone has died to him or herself. We kind of secretly think, Well, what if one selfish person sneaks in and starts taking advantage of everything? The thing is, the only way to get there (Heaven) is by denying yourself, picking up your cross and following Christ. There is no other road to get to that place. Selfish people can't get there. We must deny ourselves and follow Christ, because we don't deserve what he is giving us.

One day, I was traveling from bus to bus, station to station, hostel to hostel, etc. That day, my iPod fell out of my pocket, and my video camera got stolen out of my bag. Losing an iPod during a lifestyle of travel is the 20's version of having kidney stones (okay, maybe a little dramatic). The video camera was $600 gone out the door. I was sitting there thinking poooop. After about five minutes of feeling down about it, I thought, I'm not having a “bad day” because of this. Losing an iPod and getting my video camera stolen isn't going to make me lose my joy or going to steal it from me. My joy isn't found in them. I'm not saying, “I hope I lose everything or have all my stuff stolen.” Don't get me wrong; I really enjoy filming and taking pictures, but not at the cost of it having any control over me.

That is just a small example of dying to self in everyday life. Maybe for you to get free from yourself you have to die to yourself when you're in traffic, when someone says something rude to you, your roommate's a pain, your boss is being unfair, that girl spreads gossip about you, that guy steals the spotlight, etc. Really, the list could go on forever. Until we realize that the only person who can get us mad or irritated is ourselves, we will be slaves to other people. Until we die to ourselves, ourselves will always be holding us back from being free in Christ.

Dying sounds so bad and painful. But that's because our eyes are on the wrong thing. Jesus endured the cross, because it was the joy set before him. When we're not living for self (the flesh) we are then living by the Spirit. When we live by the Spirit, we have the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We all should do ourselves a favor and die to ourselves so we can be set free. You're made for living in freedom.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (2 Cor. 3:17)

Jesus died for you to be set free from yourself. When you live for yourself, all you get is yourself.

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sens

Die hard to Live Free.