Running To Freedom
My daughter saw a police officer as we were out running errands. He was in the same store, in the same line as we were, doing the same business....and yet she was cowered behind me as if he was the antithesis of SAFE and COMFORTING.
She pulled me down to whisper into my ear.....
"Ummm...mom? Polices kinda scare me."
I said, "Why? Did you do something WRONG?"
I got to thinking about my initial response to her. Her response to seeing him. Hiding behind ME because I suppose she thought I would be the one to throw him down if he comes after her.
My response was meant to make her giggle but those words only give her an ill-informed perception of police officers. If she DID in fact do something wrong then she was justified in hiding from him because THEN, well, THEN you would understand the kind of FEAR a man with such a position could invoke. Then you would have to deal with the consequences of what you had done. And EVERYone knows, they're WATCHING....waiting.......to CATCH you in ONE.WRONG.MOVE. so they can swoop in and TEACH you a lesson.
I know that feeling.
Driving down the highway, seeing the police officer on the side of the road, and for a moment?
My heart stops.
I check my speed.
Look around to be sure everything is as it SHOULD be.
Did I do something WRONG?????
There is something about an officer that evokes a special kind of fear, true.
They represent AUTHORITY.
but more often than not the popular opinion of all that embodies an officer does NOT include:
protection. safety. and RESCUE.
I remember Abigail, a couple of years ago, lost a library book. She was FRANTIC. scrambling to find that book. I told her to stop crying so she could be a little more focused in her search. she cried out, "If I can't find it I'm gonna go to JAIL!" I giggled to myself and waited till AFTER she found the book (with good and justifiable reason) to tell her that the punishment for losing a book is 10cents a day *NOT* jail time.
Telling your children "If you're bad. You're gonna go to jail." only teaches them to hide from mistakes and run from authority who in fact is there for protection. safety. security. rescue.
What *LOVING* parent doesn't discipline their child when they've been disobedient.
*NO* discipline seems pleasant at the time. It IS painful. But later on produces a HARVEST of *PEACE* and *RIGHTEOUSNESS* to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11)
I heard a police officer say once, "we want your children to run TO us when they need help or are in danger, not to run FROM us."
HOW often do we run from GOD when we have found ourselves in a mess?
In a mess we've made with our own hands.
We fear the consequences. We somehow think He was watching...waiting to CATCH YOU IN ONE WRONG MOVE and then SLAM down the gavel in favor AGAINST us.
Oh, friends, we've got it all wrong.
Running FROM Him will always lead us to a dead end.
There we will not find the answers or HOPE we are looking for.
Running will ALWAYS keep us in a prison of denial.
........ a CONSTANT struggle trying to stay one step ahead of the walls caving in on us.
If only we could SEE it.
He's WAITING! Not to execute judgment. He who is without SIN has every moral authoritative RIGHT to do so. But the ONLY one who has both the authority to condemn you and the mercy to pardon you chooses mercy.......and is WAITING for you to COME to Him. Not run FROM Him.
He is our DEFENDER. Our RESCUER. Our DELIVERER. Our SECURE place. The ONE who will make all things RIGHT when we've done it all wrong!!!!
There is NO place we can run where He does not pursue us.
He wants to bring us to a place of ABSOLUTE DEPENDENCE AND TOTAL TRUST.
To trust Him with the consequences of our actions.
Trust Him to fix the mess we've made and redeem it somehow.
Trust Him to love us regardless of the mistakes we've made.
Trust Him that asking for HELP is far better than trying to go it on our own.
TRUST Him that He has our best interest at heart and that perhaps He knows things that we don't know after all
..... and when we've learned the art of FULL surrender we will find nothing but blessings and PEACE wait for us.
She pulled me down to whisper into my ear.....
"Ummm...mom? Polices kinda scare me."
I said, "Why? Did you do something WRONG?"
I got to thinking about my initial response to her. Her response to seeing him. Hiding behind ME because I suppose she thought I would be the one to throw him down if he comes after her.
My response was meant to make her giggle but those words only give her an ill-informed perception of police officers. If she DID in fact do something wrong then she was justified in hiding from him because THEN, well, THEN you would understand the kind of FEAR a man with such a position could invoke. Then you would have to deal with the consequences of what you had done. And EVERYone knows, they're WATCHING....waiting.......to CATCH you in ONE.WRONG.MOVE. so they can swoop in and TEACH you a lesson.
I know that feeling.
Driving down the highway, seeing the police officer on the side of the road, and for a moment?
My heart stops.
I check my speed.
Look around to be sure everything is as it SHOULD be.
Did I do something WRONG?????
There is something about an officer that evokes a special kind of fear, true.
They represent AUTHORITY.
but more often than not the popular opinion of all that embodies an officer does NOT include:
protection. safety. and RESCUE.
I remember Abigail, a couple of years ago, lost a library book. She was FRANTIC. scrambling to find that book. I told her to stop crying so she could be a little more focused in her search. she cried out, "If I can't find it I'm gonna go to JAIL!" I giggled to myself and waited till AFTER she found the book (with good and justifiable reason) to tell her that the punishment for losing a book is 10cents a day *NOT* jail time.
Telling your children "If you're bad. You're gonna go to jail." only teaches them to hide from mistakes and run from authority who in fact is there for protection. safety. security. rescue.
What *LOVING* parent doesn't discipline their child when they've been disobedient.
*NO* discipline seems pleasant at the time. It IS painful. But later on produces a HARVEST of *PEACE* and *RIGHTEOUSNESS* to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11)
I heard a police officer say once, "we want your children to run TO us when they need help or are in danger, not to run FROM us."
HOW often do we run from GOD when we have found ourselves in a mess?
In a mess we've made with our own hands.
We fear the consequences. We somehow think He was watching...waiting to CATCH YOU IN ONE WRONG MOVE and then SLAM down the gavel in favor AGAINST us.
Oh, friends, we've got it all wrong.
Running FROM Him will always lead us to a dead end.
There we will not find the answers or HOPE we are looking for.
Running will ALWAYS keep us in a prison of denial.
........ a CONSTANT struggle trying to stay one step ahead of the walls caving in on us.
If only we could SEE it.
He's WAITING! Not to execute judgment. He who is without SIN has every moral authoritative RIGHT to do so. But the ONLY one who has both the authority to condemn you and the mercy to pardon you chooses mercy.......and is WAITING for you to COME to Him. Not run FROM Him.
He is our DEFENDER. Our RESCUER. Our DELIVERER. Our SECURE place. The ONE who will make all things RIGHT when we've done it all wrong!!!!
There is NO place we can run where He does not pursue us.
He wants to bring us to a place of ABSOLUTE DEPENDENCE AND TOTAL TRUST.
Trust Him to fix the mess we've made and redeem it somehow.
Trust Him to love us regardless of the mistakes we've made.
Trust Him that asking for HELP is far better than trying to go it on our own.
TRUST Him that He has our best interest at heart and that perhaps He knows things that we don't know after all
..... and when we've learned the art of FULL surrender we will find nothing but blessings and PEACE wait for us.
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