Where Is True Freedom Found?
Hebrews 10:5-7, John 4:34, Mark 14:36, Luke 22:42
Maturing Christians develop a will consistently submissive to the will of God, regardless of the cost. I can scarcely consider at any deep level the total submission of Christ to his Father in Gethsemane without being moved to tears. Here is the perfect Son of God groveling on the ground with blood oozing from the pores of his skin because of the overwhelming pressure of the cup the Father was handing him to drink—the cup of his infinite wrath against the sins of all his people from all time. The vision of this cup was so devastating that Christ was dropped to the ground, and he poured out strong prayers to the One who alone could save him from death—his Abba, his dear Father. The Father revealed the cup to him, “This is what it will be like to atone for the sins of the world.” Christ, overwhelmed, asked “Is there any other way for me to save my beloved people than drinking that cup?” The Father answered, “No, my Son, there is no other way. Will you do it anyway?” Jesus’ answer is the eternal picture of the perfect submission of a human being to the will of God— “Not my will, but yours be done” (Mark 14:36). By his one act of obedience, including the follow-through at Golgotha, I am made righteous… positionally by faith, justified by his one act of obedience (Romans 5:19).
“Maturity involves developing a will perfectly submissive to the will of God.”
Not only am I made positionally righteous by that, but I am also instructed concerning my actual daily righteousness. I am commanded to imitate my Savior every day and learn to say likewise: “Not my will, but yours be done.” Maturity involves developing a will perfectly submissive to the will of God. That God’s will be done in my life as it is in heaven. That I would not use my will to rebel and seek my own pleasures and purposes, but rather that my will would connect my heart’s loves and hatreds to my bodies’ actions in full obedience, day after day, for the rest of my life. This is the only proper use of the free will so celebrated by humanity. My free will is truly free only if it runs in the paths of God’s commands (Psalm 119:32) and does the good works the Father has prepared in advance for me to do (Ephesians 2:10).
Developing this yielded will is a lifetime work. It will be costly and painful. Whenever the will does the bidding of my flesh, I will have every cause to be ashamed. But I am following the leading of the Holy Spirit to imitate Christ’s timeless submission: “Not my will but yours be done.” To say, “Here I am, I have come to do your will, O God” (Hebrews 10:7). To say also, “My food is to do the will of my Father and finish his work” (John 4:34). As we grow more and more in conformity to Christ, so we will more and more choose what Christ would choose and reject what Christ would reject. Of our own free will.
