Liberty

This morning I read 1 Kings 9. The first of part of the chapter is about the Queen of Sheeba’s visit to King Soloman. She was amazed by his wisdom and wealth and gave the credit to God for it all. In verses 8-10 she says, “ “

In thinking about these verses this morning and wondering how they should, in a very practical way, effect and change my life I thought about the wealth that I have. My wealth to many people doesn’t seem like much, but to others I’m extremely blessed. The last 10 years or so look a bit like this:

• Age 18: go to Word of Life Bible Institute in Florida for a year. I had to get a small loan to complete the school year but it was paid off within three years.
• Age 20: After coming back to Iowa I got a good job without even looking for one. My hours were 1-9pm Tuesday to Saturday so after a year of working, in which I bought and paid off a car, I was able to go to a local Christian college.
• Age 21: After a year of school I decided that I shouldn’t continue my education there. During my year there Liberty University changed their age requirement for their Distance Learning Program.
• Age 22: My hours at work were cut in half. During this time the secretary at my church and her husband were getting busy with deputation for going to Portugal to teach in a school for missionary kids. She resigned and I was asked to take her place as the full time secretary.
• Age 23: I started school through LU’s DLP and end up taking a two week missions trip to Costa Rica.
• Age 24: I bought my house.
• Age 25-28: while I continue and eventually finish school I spend two weeks in South Africa, and basically just live my life.
• Age 28: a girl in my church who needs help and a place to live moves in with me for six months. This is a growing and learning experience for both of us.
• Age 29: my hours at work are cut more than in half. Even though my car is old and junky it is still running so I don’t have to worry about replacing it…at the moment. I am able to buy a new furnace and a computer. I find other jobs to help supplement what I am no longer earning at the church (and need to continue to find more).

All of this makes me rich. I don’t need or want a ton of possessions. I have everything.

Another thought I had about the life of Soloman is this: if someone like Soloman lived today the average Christian wouldn’t pay attention to him, no matter how much wisdom God gave him. Here is part of my logic: How many wives and concubines did he have? How many slaves were under him? I know that times have changed and polygamy isn’t accepted anymore, but it wasn’t widely practiced back then either. I think it was fairly limited to the wealthy.

Also lets take a look at Soloman’s dad, King David. We all know what he did with Bathsheba. And don’t forget about what David did when he was running from King Saul and acted like he was insane: drooling and acting like a mad man. With the prevalent mentality today, we wouldn’t give David a second thought other than to tell our kids to stay away from him. We would never believe that God would or could use someone like that.

This mentality and view of people who “sin big,” when personally applied to ourselves, can keep us from truly following God and living in the freedom that he has given us through the cross.

A few years ago I was talking to someone about Chrsitian liberty. What he said still sticks echoes in my mind today even though I haven’t fully realized the truth of what he said. He basically told me, “Christian liberty isn’t about having a shorter list of don’ts. It isn’t about a list; it doesn’t even include the concept of a list. Christian liberty is about the freedom we have by being children of God. We aren’t bound by sin or the law. God doesn’t want our allegiance to a list of dos and don’ts. He just wants us. Our sin will be taken care of, we will change, as we grow closer to Him.”