Trust & Freedom: Proverbs & Romans
Proverbs 3 and Romans 7 contain some very familiar scriptures. Proverbs 3 is about trusting God and Romans 7 is that confusing passage where I could never figure out what Paul was doing. He’s like doing what he wants when he doesn’t want to and not doing what he wants when he doesn’t want to, but it’s not him doing it. So, I’ve always had a hard time figuring out what he was really saying. I digress.
Anyway, I think as Christians we are supposed to have this neutrality towards self. Here’s what I mean. Proverbs 3:5-6 or 7 says to Trust God, lean not on your own understanding, acknowledge God in whatever we do and God will show us the right path.
Here is my interpretation. I am to trust God to give me direction. That’s easy enough to understand. But then, to trust Him means that I do not lean on my own understanding. Even though I might know all the pros and cons of a circumstance, I cannot use that information in place of seeking and trusting God. I keep trusting God to show me the right path. It’s not up to me to determine the right path. That is God’s responsibility. He will show me direction and make my life straight. I am not sure that I am articulating the freedom that is in this passage, but it is there as it is also in Roman’s 7.
Roman’s 7 has always confused me until recently. What Paul is trying to say in all the “do” phrases is communicate that we are free indeed. Though worldly analogies are flawed, I’ll give one a go to illustrate. Before Christ my spirit was in a cell inside a prison (or concentration camp). After Christ the cell door has been opened and I have been given the mind of Christ. I am free. However, I still have to walk out of the prison and live freely. Now during my incarceration I have learned to live in slavery, under someone else’s rule.
In reality, I am starved for nutritious food. I do not have a vocation, home, or family for this new freedom. What this means is that I have some things to overcome despite my freedom. But it is not my freedom causing the problem. It is my former slavery. And, AMEN AND HALLELUIAH!, I am not judged by what I now do as a result of my former life as a slave. That is why Paul says he does what he does not want. The old sin nature has residual effects. He sees this evil in him, but is aware of the new mind of Christ he is given because of his desire to do good.
The communication is freedom. Since coming to know Christ everything is taking care of. The old slave has been replaced by the new man. The old ways of the slave man have been payed for, past present and future. I AM NO LONGER JUDGED FOR ANY OF THESE, INCLUDING MY ACTIVE SINS! God is now responsible to change my desires.
Does he want me to mature in my shortcomings? Well, yes. But my freedom is not contingent upon my maturation. I am free but I still need to mature. Furthermore, I am not to worry or fret about being judged about the sin in my life as I mature. I mean, this is a revelation to me. You mean when I think about all of my shortcomings, like eating too much, I am not judged and my relationship with God is not changed? Absolutely not, I think. Would not that minimize what Christ did?
Well, I am going to finish up by saying that we need to trust wholly in the freedom that Christ has given us. He gives us this through his sacrifice; moreover, we can have confidence that He is trustworthy when it comes to our lives from our everyday provisions to our future. PRAISE BE!
