Feel free
3 April 08
A pack of jelly beans did the rounds in the office this afternoon. Some members of the office were even force-fed them, muttering feebly about diets before succumbing to the sugary goodness. “Have a few!” the cry went up. “Feel free!”
Funny what gets you thinking. It’s probably quite sad that a bunch of jelly beans made me start considering this, but what does it actually mean to be free? Here at underground we talk a lot about ‘using your freedom’ – it’s a major part of our response to the news that our brothers and sisters are suffering for our common faith. It’s not like they choose to suffer, after all. God chooses who suffers when, how much and why, and that’s not something I pretend to understand. What I do understand is this: if God plans things in our lives for our good, then we need to use the easy times as well as endure the hard times.
Now, as all you essay-writers will know, you have to back up your arguments. Where am I getting this from in the Bible? Well, there’s one main place, that famous verse in Romans:
He knows us far better than we know ourselves…That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. (Romans 8:28, The Message)
So, sat here at my warm desk (my laptop’s been on for a while), full of jelly beans and a short drive away from my house, I’m thinking that I’ve got it pretty good. God’s chosen to put me in the place that I live and given me the friends and family and stuff that I have. So why has he chosen to let some rejoice and others suffer?
I guess part of the clue is in what we do with what we’ve got. Sat here at my desk, typing away with my headphones in, I could be planning my summer holiday or chatting to some talent on MSN and no-one would know. Except that someone might notice that the blog post hadn’t been updated, and start asking questions. (The blank expression and drooling might give it away, too.) So, even though no-one’s actually standing behind my desk watching what I’m doing, I’m accountable for how I use my time.
It’s kind of like that with how we live our lives, too. If we’re Christians, the Holy Spirit lives in our hearts, and so he goes everywhere with us and sees everything we do – and don’t do. Even if I did waste my time chatting and surfing instead of doing my work and no-one else noticed, God would see me. In my experience, he’s a patient God who doesn’t rain down thunderbolts for every little laziness, but he does hold us to account. That laziness would come back on me at some point, and I’d deserve it, for abusing the freedom I’m given to organise my own time.
So what does this have to do with jelly beans and suffering? Well, I reckon that God doesn’t do stuff without a motive. When you suffer, you learn to rely on God and be close to him in a way that you just can’t do when life is easy. Persecuted Christians often have this incredible closeness with God that we’d really love. Those who suffer for Jesus gain something special in relationship with him. In the same way, it’s great to be happy and healthy and enjoy life, and we learn a lot about God’s goodness that way too. So, like the Bible verse above says, every detail is worked into something good.
But we need each other. If I’m having a rough time and my friends are too busy enjoying themselves to take care of me, that makes them pretty rubbish friends. And if I’m having such a blast that I fail to take notice of what’s going on with others, that makes me dead selfish. God gives us different experiences at different times so that we can learn different things, but then he gives us each other to lean on and learn from.
So while I’m free, healthy, sheltered, and have money to spare, I need to share that with those who don’t have it. And I sure hope that, if I’m down on my luck, I’ll be able to rely on people who are free, sheltered and have money to spare to help me out in their turn. When I have jelly beans, I can share with people who don’t have them. It’s my right – my freedom. Ever thought about that? You have freedom to give. Imagine not having that freedom, and being too poor to buy a birthday present for the person you love most in the world. You know just what they’d like, but you can’t afford it. You won’t see the smile on their face as they open it, or the feeling of getting them just what they wanted.
So go on, share those jelly beans. Pray for the persecuted and ask for the love of Jesus to strengthen them. Wander around with green shoelaces round your wrist as a symbol of standing with the suffering. Save your pennies to ease the material needs of Christians who’ve had their homes burned and businesses taken away.
Feel free.