These last few weeks have been a bit stressful, but it’s normal stress, the kind that comes with the end of a school term. It’s even a good kind of stress because you get tested in so many ways. How do we measure up? Are we students that procrastinate? Cheat? Blame? Compare? Do we know anything? Does it matter? Will it bring us a secure future?
It came to a bit of a head this morning. I spent last tossing and turning and worrying about something that I believe to be important. All kinds of imagined scenarios and conversations overlap in my mind. “What about this, what about that? Why not this?” Over and over….! I came to realize that I am craving earthly security. I want to matter on this earth. I want to own and possess things that matter to others as well. I want roots in things that really don’t matter at all when it comes to eternity.
We root ourselves in relationships, possessions, status, and even a certain identity. We believe that these roots keep us safe, but they don’t. Eventually something comes around that shakes that foundation. We flounder. Sometimes we dig deeper. Other times we find something else to root into. Rarely does it make us root in God. We might grasp on to Him, and beg for a lifeline, an answer, some peace…but when we get our roots dug back in, we forget Him, at least until we need Him for something else.
What does it mean then to truly have freedom. Wings. Can we have both roots and wings? What does it mean to live rooted in Christ, and at the same time living in absolute freedom? It actually means that we need a brand new identity. An identity that doesn’t shake when life throws you punches. An identity that roots only in Christ. An identity that can sleep through the storms because they know that they are one with God. He KNOWS the beginning and the end because HE IS the Alpha and Omega. Our book has been written, and all the floundering on this earth is temporary. It is over as far as God is concerned. He has fought our battles for us. He has given us a new identity as His sons and daughters. Knowing this, deep down, erases the need to have security in earthly identities.
We can be rooted in Him, and because of this, we have the wings to soar. That is true freedom. I need to read this passage every day. “Actually, I don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.” Philippians 4:11-13 MSG
“GOD doesn’t come and go. God lasts. He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out. He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts. For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall. But those who wait upon GOD get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind.” Isaiah 40:28-31 MSG