We're Just Wild Mice

My Applied Counseling class has such useful models for the Christian walk that I will at times forget it's a secular class.  Sometimes in lecture I feel like I am getting a 101 on discipleship and in homework I feel like the books we're reading all point toward Christ.

In a book we're reading, the authors mention a study by Colhoun that examined wild mice.  These mice need to run on a wheel about 8 hours a day and will do so on their own.  Their bodies know they need it and so they will turn on a switch and exercise.  It's simple.  And perfect.  And the way it was designed to be.  But when the researcher turned on the wheel, the mice would immediately turn off the switch.  They refused to run when the researcher "told them to" (by turning on the wheel) even though they knew they needed the exercise to be healthy and survive.  The authors describe this as foolish freedom because "the mice preferred mastering the switch to running.  They demanded control over their behavior, even if it meant sacrificing their own health."

This is us and God.  We sin sometimes because we want some sort of "control" over our lives.  We do things that we know are harmful for us and harmful for our relationship with Jesus because we would rather have this pseudo-freedom.  We think we know what's best for us.  We think that we are better off being in control.  Better off mastering the switch.

But this isn't freedom at all.
This is foolish freedom.
This is harming what we were designed to do.
This is harming us glorifying God.

The authors then go on to describe responsible freedom--

"An act is free if I identify with the elements that generate it.  An act is coerced if I feel dissociated from the elements.  Thus, identification is logically prior to independence.  Freedom is not a primary, but a derivative, experience.  A sense of self is logically prior to self-control.  Personal freedom is the acting out of our identity, our self.

Self-reevaluation is an important change process for preparing for liberating action.  Through this process you come to think and feel differently about yourself (as a drinker, smoker, or whatever).  You are preparing to give up and grieve for an important part of your identity--not just for now but forever."

If you have a relationship with Jesus, you need to give up what you think your identity is (as a student, or dancer, or athlete, or doctor, or teacher) to embrace the reality of what your identity actually is.  You are a child of God.  You are a person in whom Christ dwells.

"Freedom is not a primary, but a derivative experience."  When you understand who you are in Jesus, you will follow Him.  You will hit the mark.  You will stop resisting His guidance and teaching.  And you will be free.

Jesus talks about how sin is slavery.  When you sin and do what you want instead of what God wants you are the furthest thing from free.  You are living in bondage.

True freedom is allowing Jesus to take those chains off of you.
True freedom is knowing your identity is in Him.
True freedom is embracing His love.
True freedom is doing what you were designed to do:  Glorify the King.