“Jesus has set us free.” Have you heard preachers say this and struggled to understand what it means in a practical sense? Certainly, Jesus sets us free from condemnation, but there is a practical element to this as well. Jesus reconciles us to God so we can serve him alone. That’s freedom. This is the kind of freedom that Jeremiah promises to the exiles here. Jeremiah says here to the exiles that in the future kingdom his people will “serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them” (vs. 9). He is referring of course to Jesus. He is saying that serving only God and his Messiah will mean freedom for his people. People serve many onerous agendas. They take on certain expectations and pursue goals that they feel they must pursue without questioning the validity of these expectations and goals. Most of them have no validity at all. They are just treadmills with no other purpose than to keep us in bondage. There is only one who has the right to set your life goals and that is God. To be set free is to be reconciled to God so that he can again become your God. It is his prerogative to govern your life. The only thing you must do in this life is the will of God. And this is not onerous because it is what you were made for. When God asks you to serve his will it is like asking a bird to fly. Doing God’s will is what invigorates our capacities and ignites the joy of living.
What are the expectations and goals that you live by? Are they of God?
Read Jeremiah 30
