Right Now, There’s Something You Can Do to Achieve True Freedom

This week, during Holy Week, we meditate on some of the events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday as we journey with Christ to the cross. Will we be changed by this encounter?

Read Mark 14:32-42. Our cocker spaniel, Harley, has a look. I can’t describe it, but when I am out with him and see it, I instinctively know he’s about to run off and make a burst for freedom!

I’ve always said dogs have much to teach us! In those moments (or sometime afterwards when the panic has subsided!) I reflect that Harley’s bid for freedom matches our own. Since the beginning of time, humanity has wanted to be free of God’s call on our lives. We want to be in control ourselves.

This is the fundamental question Jesus faces in the Garden of Gethsemane in the late hours of Maundy Thursday: will he follow God’s will and all that he knows that will mean for him, or will he bid for freedom and take back control of his own life?

Mark 14:36 NLT

“Abba, Father”, he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine”.

In that moment, Jesus hands his freedom over to God, fully trusting that by doing so he will one day find in him the freedom that lasts for ever.

Following our own will and having control over our own lives is not what it’s cracked up to be. We cannot set ourselves free. We need a Saviour who is willing to give up his own freedom so that we can be free. The best we can do in response is to offer our own lives to God in response. That is the path to true freedom.

Think It Over

Think about the following:

• Where are you still trying to take or keep control in your own life?