March 9, 2014: Created for Freedom – Scott Oppliger

We were created for freedom. To give love freely. To receive love freely. We never had to worry about what someone really thought. We never had to try and love just to get something. Everything was freely given and freely received with no strings attached. This is the kind of thing we see in the best relationships, and it epitomizes the relationship the man and the woman had with God. This kind of thing can sound like a pipe dream – like it could not possibly be real. 

But it is something God wants back. This is why the prophets describe the life to come as a garden. And not just any garden, Eden itself. A place where things were perfect and beautiful. This is what the promise of Lent is. A time for us to remove what hinders us from freedom.