It has been nearly two and one half years since my last post for this blog. Life changes and that has included my life as well. My last entry was soon after my mother at the age of ninety-three passed away. Since then my life experiences have included celebrating my seventy-first birthday, drawing my first Social Security check, retiring from my life vocation as a Christian minister, and beating cancer for a second time.
Now I look at life from a different perspective on freedom. For most days I decide when I get up and when I go to bed, when I eat meals or if I eat at all. Meetings are few and far in between, and most are occasions for voluntary participation. It seems the only required ones are the occasional doctors’ appointments and my volunteer work at non-profits.
There is, however, one major stressor. That is accountability. Does that sound strange? I have a new source of accountability. It is neither an organization nor a time clock. It is neither a human boss nor a set of laws. I am accountable to my sense of self-worth.
In John 8:32 Jesus said, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." We all know we are never truly free. Laws in the natural world limit us in one way or another as do political laws. If we intend to stay alive, growing older is one of the big ones. Freedom has to be seen in a different light. Part of that different light is who will hold us accountable.
God has said and shown I am worth the life of his Son Jesus Christ sacrificed upon a Roman cross, the innocent for the guilty. In that act of love I see myself having tremendous worth, and therefore I must live a life that reflects that worth.
In the remaining years of my life, however many that may be, my love for God must reflect that self-worth. My love for mankind must reflect that sense of self-worth. My love for myself and how I care for myself must reflect that sense of self-worth. This includes not only caring for my physical being, but also being careful about what enters my eyes and ears and then into my heart.
God will hold me accountable for the commitment I have made to him. It will shape the use of my time and material resources. It is a commitment to be revealed in my roles as husband, father, grandfather, friend, and as a member of the Body of Christ.
The changes that have occurred over the last two and a half years have made me even more aware of how I must make decisions based upon who I am and not who others think I am. Always that self-worth is based upon what God thinks of me. There provides me with true freedom.
John 8:36 “If the Son sets you free, then you will be really free.”
