Freedom.

This post is going to be a little different than anything else I've really said before. I have just started reading Free Book by Brian Tome. I have only read the first two chapters but it is filled with too much wisdom to just keep in the book. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out what this book is about...Freedom. Here are a couple things that are definitely worth sharing.

The entire Kingdom of God is about freedom. "It is for freedom that Christ set us free." We've been freed from sin, and therefore we are free to have job. Why is that so hard for us to accept? The Bible says God hasn't given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline.

NOTHING ever gets done unless its done by a FANATIC!

Somewhere along the way, the message and reputation of the Bible got reversed. Instead of people recognizing it was a message about total freedom and perfect love, the Bible unjustly earned a reputation for being a book of restrictions. But that's because of who has been representing it.

God's primary mission is liberation. He wants to liberate us from our fears, grievances, addictions, petty preoccupations, and dozens of other distractions.

Here is a story that started Chapter 2. It happens way too often.

A guy was drinking a Bloody Mary in our church parking lot the other morning. We were tailgating--it was Super Bowl Weekend--and the day was close to perfect. Football, trucks, fire pits, hot dogs, and beer? Perfect.

But not everyone thought it was perfect. If you haven't heard, church parking lots aren't supposed to host tailgates, and Bloody Marys are off-limits when you're fifty yards from a church door. So, apparently, we needed some reprimanding.

It came in an email:

"I'm deeply offended and greatly disappointed by Crossroads' involvement with alcohol during the Super Bowl event. Such a move can be personally and spiritually devastating for people like myself [with an alcoholic past]. Will your next event involve weed or porn?!"

Now honestly, I thought about calling this guy and saying, "Great idea! We love weed around here!" until I realized he probably wasn't in the mood for my sarcasm. Instead, I emailed back:

"No, we won't be having weed or porn. We believe those things are wrong under every circumstance. but we don't believe alcohol is wrong under every circumstance. And I could quote you many scriptures about this, but then you'd probably have some to quote as well.

We don't want to cause anyone to stumble, and I don't think we caused you to stumble, either. Unless we consider giving you and opportunity to judge us as "stumbling." [That wasn't sarcasm, I promise.]

Now, alcohol isn't an agent of freedom. What I'm saying is that it seems as though many of us are so fearful of only doing what's "right" that we've lost sight of the life Jesus came to give us.

***There is so much truth in this book and can't wait to see what the rest of the book has!!***