Last Sunday was one of those Bolivian holidays that just makes me smile. There is a holiday for just about everything and everyone here...Oh sure, there are the big ones - Christmas, Easter, New Years, Mother's Day - but the Bolivian calendar is also marked with holidays like "Student's Day" (a federal holiday that we actually get off of school!), "Children's Day" (where parents give their children gifts - like a second birthday if you ask me!), Carnaval (celebrated with city-wide water balloon and water gun fights + families wandering the streets wearing ponchos over their wild costumes = Fun!), days for specific professions, and some creepier holidays like "The Day of Skulls" (Yikes! We don't get that one off of school.). The Bolivian government has also been known to plan spur of the moment federal holidays to appease its working class (e.g. Last year in response to the doctors and transportation sector protests, the government declared a national holiday and mandated that schools close for the day...THAT was a day of celebration! Teacher's love days off as much as our students do. Maybe more!).
Anyway, like I said, last Sunday was one of those Bolivian holidays that make me smile - Day of the Pedestrian. I love this holiday! On Pedestrian's Day, transportation stops completely between the hours of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., and instead of taxis and minis, the streets are filled with children playing soccer, bicyclists (more than I've EVER seen in La Paz!), dog-walkers, and believe it or not, horses! It's a day when you are far more likely to get hit by a speeding scooter than a trufi. The only cars I saw on the road were remote controlled. :) (Ok, and one taxi that was just breaking ALL the rules!). It is such a fun day, and although there is noisy celebration and crowds of people fill the busy streets, the city feels tranquil without cars racing here and there. There is a sense of...Ah..rest. It's as though the whole city has paused to breathe for the day.
As I walked through my neighborhood on my way to meet Kelli for lunch, I was enjoying watching a group of kids playing in the street, when it suddenly struck me - I was walking on the sidewalk! On this one day, I had the freedom to prance through the city streets if I felt like it, but there I was. Habit drove me to stick to the paths I knew. I had practically forgotten that today was a day to take to the streets - literally! I decisively made my way to the center of the calle to take fully advantage of el Dia del Peaton.
And then it struck me. Galatians 5:1 - "It is for freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."
The slavery that is referred to here isn't the burden of sin. It is true that we have been set free from the power of sin and from the condemnation that sin brings. But the freedom here is a freedom from the law and from human-imposed dos and don'ts. This is the freedom of knowing Christ has done it all. I have never been able to do anything to earn merit or to deserve something from God. And in Christ, I don't have to strive to be accepted by God. Because I already am.
At one point, the law was a burden. It informs us of our sin and reminds us of just how imperfect we are in the presence of a God whose standard is perfection. Christ's saving work on the cross has set us free from guilt, from needing to be "good enough", and from the impossible task of trying to earn favor with God.
In Christ, we have the freedom to choose to do what pleases the Lord as a response of love, not because of the law. It is a far more beautiful obedience. To "find out what pleases the Lord." To walk in his ways because we see that they are good, that we are free, and that he is worthy. To choose the life he offers because we desire to know HIM, not because we are afraid of punishment or because we have something to earn or to prove. After all, perfect love drives out fear. We don't have to worry about the debt we would have owed, because someone has paid it all for us. We don't have to worry that someday soon, the judge is going to crack down on us and say, "Hey you! Pay up!" The anticipation of judgment isn't there anymore. Instead, we have the hope that we'll get to go home. We'll get to see the One we love. The One who loves us. The One who we have longed to be with for our whole lives, before we even knew we did.
In this life, we have the freedom to choose to serve him in love.
And this is the kind of not-just-have-to-but-GET-to obedience that brings joy.
Has there ever been someone in your life that you actually liked to obey?
When we love someone, when we want to make them happy, when we desire to have a close relationship with that person, obedience is natural, joyful, and unifying. It draws us closer to the one we obey. There is tenderness and humility in obedience. And there is closeness when we obey out of love, not just "have-to" duty. Obedience because of "have-to" may make us do what we "should," but there is little joy in it. We're just living out our duty then. Obedience because of love is because I can. It goes above and beyond the letter of the law to reach the very spirit of it.
Do we walk in the freedom of "Can Obey"? Do we celebrate our ability to walk in those streets? Or do we just keep working and striving and doing the things we have done for so long out of habit? Just doing the right thing because we "should"? Not because we love the One who told us what is important to him. Not because we trust that he knows the best ways to live. But because its the "right" thing to do.
We have the freedom to walk in his streets. Why are we sticking to the sidewalks?
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