Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness...

*Deep breath…this is not a political piece. 

A few weeks ago the phrase, “Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness” popped into my thoughts. I realized I couldn’t recall the context in which it was written since the last time I read the Declaration of Independence was probably in my 7^th grade Civics Class… so naturally I Googled it:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

After reading it, I couldn’t seem to shake the thought…

I mean… the men who penned this and established a country upon it, drawing the line in the sand against the nation that threatened their freedom, understood (at least in part) the gifts we so often forget or ignore…

As sons and daughters of God we have indeed been  “endowed by (our) Creator” with the gifts of Life, Liberty, and in pursuing him, we indeed find Happiness…I looked up the word “endowed and discovered it to mean:

“To provide with a permanent fund or source; equip; to furnish, as with some talent, faculty, or quality.”

Holy wow…

Now, we all know that when you pursue God it is not a skip in the park…most days it feels like you went to skip in the park only to trip and come to a skidding stop with a few teeth knocked out, clothes torn, knees scrapped, all in front of the huge crowd of people enjoying the park…

Still, the truth that we have a “PERMANENT SOURCE” of life, liberty, and happiness…of truth, wisdom, peace, hope, and the list goes on…the source is permanent. God is a Constant, True, Just, Loving & Good Father. He does what He says He will do… I mean if Scripture doesn’t hold enough evidence of this, just ask Chuck & Della or any of the Regeneration Kids…or read the previous blogs! We all have stories of seeing God come through…of providing everything we need, from funds and flights, to comfort, healing, and restoration. His desire for us truly is Life:

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” –John 10:10

He also deeply desires Freedom for us… Liberty for us…Liberty by definition means:

“Freedom from control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering conditions, etc.; freedom from captivity, confinement, or physical restraint”

He desires for us to be free so we can walk fully with Him…

“He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.”-Job 36:16

Think of those moments you’ve shared with friends and family gathered around an awesome meal at the table…I know for me, it is a beautiful peace-filled thought. While staying with the Magnets on and off over the past 6 years, some of my favorite life altering moments have happened at the table…They were not obvious, but quiet moments of looking around the table at the faces…for the first few years, I was nervous and awkward when I looked around…I hadn’t quite understood yet what it was to be a daughter…As God has walked and wooed me through the shame, fear, insecurities, etc. of my past into freedom, I find that now when I sit at their table I am truly at ease when I look about me…I know they are family…they too are sons and daughters… I know my place at the table and I am indeed free to be a daughter. That is the freedom, the liberty God desires for us and is wooing us to…for us to not be shackled by our sins and/or wounds from years ago or even moments ago…

“For you did not receive the Spirit of Slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of Adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” 

–Romans 8:15

And if that wasn’t enough:

“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are Children of God, and if children, then heirs-heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.” 

–Romans 8:16-17

We have received the Spirit of Adoption… we are not orphans wandering about…if anything we are far more like the Prodigal Son…prone to wander…. But we have a Father who we belong to… And He has called us to Freedom. 

Peter put it in simplest terms:

“ Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.”- 1 Peter 2:16-17

It blows my mind that God has called us to a life such as this… I used to believe it was all too good to be true… but just as the Sons of Liberty fought against tyranny and forged this country, so to God has walked me through the fight for freedom from the tyranny of lies, shame, worry, despair, fear, doubt, feeling worthless… He leads us to our true identities gently…

I love what Stephanie wrote in the previous Re-Generation blog:

“When we let God bring us close to hear His heartbeat, His intense and overwhelming love for us, then all the other disturbances fade and peace prevails. We are quieted and strengthened by His love… 

…Be weak and know that I am God. 

Be quiet and listen to My heartbeat.

Drop all that other stuff you’re carrying just to try and show you’re strong, and know that I will take care of you.

Your failures do not diminish who I Am or who you are.

Curl up against Me and be quieted by My love.”

What joy we have in knowing that God loves us without restraint…he just does. He is the Father watching the road waiting to see the Prodigal Sons & Daughters return…to put a ring and new cloak upon us, embrace us, seat us at the banquet table and celebrate us as family…as Sons & Daughters!! We don’t have to wallow at the pig trough too ashamed to go to the Father… we have a permanent source of Home and Belonging because we have the Spirit of Adoption and can truly join the Father in what He is doing right now. 

Truly, “Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the man who takes refuge in him!” –Psalm 34:8

  I urge you, Sons…

I urge you, Daughters… 

Let us be a generation who Truly, Deeply and Fiercely pursue Life, Liberty, and Happiness in Christ…

Let us not be a generation of back-burner dreams and half-ass lives, but instead let us be a generation of trail-blazers, peace makers, life givers, truth speakers, wisdom warriors, and justice seekers…

That we would be done with fear and shame and truly walk as Children of the Light…teeming with Love and Guarded by Peace.

Written by Alana, Cartersville, GA