Posted By Phylicia on February 6, 2010

Spring arrives late in Michigan — it creeps up out of layers of snow somewhere in the end of April or early May.  Sometimes the snow sticks around until late May, lingering in the flower beds or underneath layers of dirt in the pasture.  The first ride of the spring is always eventful; trying to catch horses that have been lying fallow for five months is never easy.  Once a horse is accustomed to freedom from bit and bridle he of course won’t want to go back to it.

That first ride is usually a little rough.  The horses won’t go or they won’t stop; they buck and twist out from under you; they bolt for no reason and spook at shadows.  They don’t want to obey in any fashion whatsoever.  They want to cling to their freedom.

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”  (Galatians 5:1)

Freedom is a wonderful but often misunderstood concept.  For many, freedom means the opportunity to do whatever one desires.  This is so for a horse — an animal with no soul and no moral compass.  However, the animalistic, natural desire to follow whatever we choose is not true freedom.  If this were so, Paul’s words to the Galatians would make no sense!  If we are free before Christ’s sacrifice, then what happened afterwards?

The horse, running wild in the field, may be beautiful, but he serves no purpose except to gratify himself.  He eats, he drinks, he runs, he mates, and he does it all over again.  Outside of his own desires he has no purpose.  But when a man takes that horse and trains it, taking those natural desires and bridling them, the horse becomes something so much more beautiful because it fulfills a purpose in life.

Christ set us free for freedom. He didn’t take it away from us.  Like the trainer, he sees a potential in us that we can never see for ourselves.  Before that potential can be realized, however, the horse has to be broken of his stubborn will and bent to the will of his master.  If he returns to his former state (by being out of use for the winter months) he will have to go through the whole process again.

Consider how this applies to us.  Christ set us free so that in his freedom we could realize all the potential in our lives.  We don’t always see beyond our immediate desires, but he does.  Don’t go back to where you were before!  Submit yourself to the will of our Master and let him show you what true freedom feels like.

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