Drop Your Nets and Be Free

There are times I wish I had no obligations. It would be great to take my wife’s hand, hop in the car, and drive into the sunset. Where we were going would not matter as much as the fact that we would have nowhere we had to be. There would be nothing we had to do. No bills. No commitments. No problems. Freedom!

Life doesn’t work like that, however. When Jesus came along and asked some fishermen to drop their nets and follow him, they did just that. Wow! In some ways, they experienced true freedom. That is what Jesus offers all of us. Yet, true freedom looks quite different than my dream scenario.

In living in the true freedom that Jesus offers, there are things we must do and places we must go. That is because freedom only exists in following God’s will, not our own. We are called to be and called to give ourselves completely to God without reservations. We always have the free will to not respond to His call, but we will find that a negative answer may complicate our lives even further. God’s path for us calls on us to give freely of what we have been given. Saying no to that call means we carry the weight of those gifts. We were never meant to keep them. The path of God’s will may seem long and winding, but it is the one that leads us into that sunset. It is the way to true freedom.

— Tracy Earl Welliver, MTS