Easter 2024

 

Featured image: Talisman III

“Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise.” — Luke 23:43

“FREEDOM lies just beyond the fences we build around ourselves.” ~James Nathan Muir

Many of you who read my journal entries know I write a lot about freedom.

James Muir’s quote pretty much says it all for me. But there are other things that make me think about Freedom and how important I think it is. A beautiful example are quotes from the movie Braveheart, which is all about freedom.

 “Your heart is free. Have the courage to follow it.”

“Run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!”

But the most wonderful quote of all that gave us the concept the idea of freedom and what we should look for when we feel fenced in and are struggling:

37 Pilate, therefore, said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.

The concept of truth is everywhere in the Bible, but for the most part, I read and understand truth as Jesus did; it was all about how one is governed and how much it exists in your life – it is the same message William Wallace was delivering when he spoke of freedom.

What did Jesus reply to Pilate?

"Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. Don't you realize I have the power either to free you or to crucify you?" Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.”

Jesus set us free. Through Jesus, God is delivering on His promise to make you perfect. He is using everything that happens in your life to make you more dependent on Him, His words, and His Spirit. He is creating a new heart, mind, and soul in you so you can live freely.

Jesus set us free, and every time I pray, I realize that. Every time I am in a pickle, I realize that it is I who created the pickle, and it is Christ who will free me from this pickle.

I am always overwhelmed during Easter because of what Christ and God did for us. He freed us—we are the ones who need to untangle the knots in our lives and make choices, not out of fear but out of the idea of freedom, as was expected in Braveheart, the Bible, and Christ's death on the cross.