Proclaim Liberty

A month ago, I decided to dive into the book of Jeremiah. Never did I expect the riches I would discover in a book I once deemed depressing and only about judgment. God has used my reading there to reveal so much to me about His nature, His balance of holiness and grace, His heart, His brokeness for those who do not walk with Him...and His faithful provision, presence, and revelation to those whose heart is after Him. I think I could probably write many, many posts on all that is discussed in Jeremiah; but for now, I would like to focus on NINE words of ONE verse: Jeremiah 34:17.

Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty...

WOAH. In this passage, if you look at the context, God was frustrated with His people for not following His commandments on how to treat their slaves/servants, who were supposed to be released after a certain number of years of service. The owners were indeed releasing them...but then bonding them once again after a year or two. The Israelites were failing to PROCLAIM LIBERTY.

Am I proclaiming liberty?

Believing in, chasing after, and defending liberty has kind of become "my thing" ever since I left the more simple ways of childhood. From the moment I watched for the first time a movie where a child chose to set a wild animal free to the heart-gripping instant of gazing at the collapsing Twin Towers to the life-changing decision of following Jesus Christ, the idea of LIBERTY began to take on new, revolutionary meanings to me.

I followed my dreams of studying government and early American history at the university level, but now, I am a college graduate, working a regular "7:45 AM to 4:45 PM" kind of job that I did not originally think I would ever do. But who I am in Christ -my true identity- is one who cannot stop striving to proclaim liberty. I firmly believe that individuals can find liberty from the toils of life through participation in equine-assisted therapy and other horse programs; I adhere to the same principles of liberty that the Founding Fathers of this country called their own and inscribed in every word of our Constitution; and most importantly, I have found true, constant liberty in the Lord Jesus Christ -a liberty that continues to exists when there are no more horses to ride or when every single right as stated in the Bill of Rights has been snatched away.

The cool thing in all of this?

This identity follows me -no matter where I live, no matter where I work, no matter how much I think I am contributing to my convictions. Now I realize that God is opening doors for me to live this identity out, even if they seem small doors at the moment. He did say after all that if I am faithful in the little things right now...He will open even more greater doors later.

So now what? WILL I PROCLAIM LIBERTY -even in my seemingly, simple, day-to-day routine? After all...I did graduate from a school with "liberty" in its name!