People Set Free Set People Free

Last week, I learned a fantastic new trick. I have long hair with a slight natural wave, but because it is so thick, the weight of it tends to straighten those natural waves. Sometimes, this is extremely convenient, as straight hair is probably the easiest to maintain. However, sometimes, us ladies get tired of the same old styles, and we try all kinds of things to add some variety. So I had been wanting to find an easy way to go curlier again. I didn’t particularly want to perm my hair, because that means a chemical change. With a perm, I’d lose the flexibility of leaving my hair straight one day and having it curly the next. So I’d been looking for options. Then I mentioned to my friend at work that I was about to give in and try perming again (Hello, ‘80s/’90s?). She looked at the photo of the style I was considering, and said, “Oh! You can do that with a sock!”

Say what?

She proceeded to show me some photos and videos online describing the brilliant concept of doing “sock bun curls.”  I’d never heard of it, and as is my typical analytical personality, I was a bit skeptical.  However, I had nothing to lose by trying it.  So that very night, I went to bed with my hair in a bun rolled onto a sock.  The next day, I woke and remembered what the funny-looking bun on my head was for.  So after getting up and dressed, the moment of truth had arrived.  It was time to do my hair.  Within seconds, the bun was rolled out, my hair was fluffed, and to my surprise, I had layers of soft defined curls!  Whodathunkit??  It was an amazing discovery and one I will be using.  Now, with no need for a perm, I am free to leave my hair straight when I want to and have it curly when I want to.  As soon as I discovered it worked, I told some of my friends, even texting pictures to some of the ones I’d told about wanting to curl.

When someone learns a new tip or trick, oftentimes, one of the first things they do is to share the knowledge.  When a person eats at a really nice restaurant, one of the first things they do soon after is to tell their friends about the fabulous food at the spectacular establishment.  When someone shops at a new store, they often feel an instant desire to give a word-of-mouth review to friends and family.  There’s just something appealing about having an experience and instantly wanting to share.  I firmly believe that there’s an inherent need in our existence to have something to share with others. 

That’s why the Gospel is so beautiful.  Not only is it good news for us to receive, but also it is good news for us to share.  It never runs out or diminishes in glory.  There is a liberal amount of liberty, to the point of abundance for overflow. 

Some of my favorite Bible passages are the ones about freedom.

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”

– Romans 8:2

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”

– Galatians 5:1

“Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”

– Matthew 10:8

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

– John 8:32

“Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

– John 8:36

“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

– 2 Corinthians 3:17

These are just a drop in the bucket of all the passages about freedom, or liberty. But the one that’s been really burning in me as of late is Matthew 10:8b:  “Freely you have received, freely give.”

We are given complete license to drive when it comes to sharing EVERYTHING Jesus provided for us.  We will never have the need to ration Grace or give it sparingly for fear of not having enough.  Likewise, we’ve been given an endless supply of Love, which is for the purpose of pouring out to others. 

This ability and willingness to share Love is the indicator that we are indeed His.  In John 13:34-35, it is spelled out plainly and the words are in red.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

This is how the world outside the Church knows who are truly disciples of Christ and who aren’t.  If they see us loving one another, they are seeing Jesus’ command in proper function.  But there is another litmus test, this time on a personal level.  Truly, if we want to understand love, the “love chapter,” 1 Corinthians 13, is great, but the deeper revelation for understanding is 1 John.  In the gospel of John, we are shown how the world knows.  But in 1 John, we are shown how WE know if we are living as His dwelling place. 

“No one has seen God at any time.  If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.  By this, we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.”

– 1 John 4:12-13

When we are truly set free, we live in Him, and therefore, His Love pours through us.  We can’t help but share.  If we are not yet able to reach out, that is an indicator that there is still some bondage in operation.  If we can’t Love liberally or embrace Grace, there’s a place of wounding in need of healing.  I don’t say that to condemn, but rather to expose places of hidden pain.  I continually have to examine my own walk, and I’ve discovered that without fail, when I’ve reached a place where I’m in a season of not being able to reach out to others, I’ve reached a place where God wants to install liberty in me.  Those are the seasons when He is doing a deep work of deliverance in areas of pain I hadn’t been able to acknowledge before.  And as those hidden wounds heal, there are deeper places in me where His Grace and Love can now flow, this time with more freedom and passion than ever before.  We DO live and grow from glory to glory, and as we do, we reach increasing levels of liberty.  We are in an ongoing process of being set free.  It’s not a one-time event.  We experience woundings throughout life, simply because we still live in a body of human flesh.  So we have to be quick to continually relinquish all of our woundings to Him as they occur.  And if we are truly free and living in love, we will be quick to love even those who have caused us pain.  Then we will be able to liberate others from within our safe place of liberty.  People set free set people free.

Grace and Love,

Holly

P.S.  Ladies with medium to long hair, try the sock bun curls!  They work!  Gents, sorry for boring you with hair fashion tips!  ;-)