The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion. —Albert Camus
Some people can’t handle freedom. Some don’t know what to do with it and it makes them nervous. Others express anger and judgment when, in fact, they are dying from jealousy. They want that freedom for themselves, but they aren’t confident that Christ really unlocked the door to their cell.
Question: How can we love these people whose envy is the root of their disdain for us?
Answer: We can show them the way of the Spirit.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-25)
A life lived in the Spirit with this fruit is something everyone wants to taste.
Our lives can be so radically different and make Christ so incredibly attractive that they are drawn to Him in us, like moths to light. This happens. We see it all through the Gospels. These Pharisees and teachers of the law are so against Jesus and everything He’s teaching, and yet there they are, in every scene. They truly believe everything Jesus is saying is wrong—blasphemy, rebellious—and yet they can’t stop listening. They can’t stop coming.
He’s attractive to them and they hate it.
In the end, they tried to kill the rebellion, never realizing that Jesus’ death is like inserting the key. And His resurrection flung open the door so that every single person who hears and believes is free—free to live that same radical, rebellious life of freedom—a life so bright it’s attractive to the most skeptical.
Lord, please make my life look radically different from what they are expecting—make it so different today that my life looks like You, not me. Your Spirit is a beautiful choreographer. Let me keep in step so that others are captivated by the dance. Amen.