Free to Be Who God Created You to Be

She is clothed in strength and dignity and laughs without fear of the future.

Proverbs 31:25

As I continue to reflect this week on what it means to be truly free in Christ, I can’t help but also think about Proverbs 31 and how freedom plays a role in becoming who God has created us to be (keep reading fellas, Proverbs 31 gives a word for men as well).

Rereading Proverbs 31 through the lens of freedom I realize that because of her obedience to God, the Proverbs 31 woman gives freely of her time, treasure and talents to others and her giving allows her husband, children, and all those she is responsible for to experience freedom from want and from hunger. She is clothed in strength because her strength comes freely from the Lord. She is dignified because the Lord has set her free from shame. She laughs without fear of the future because she knows that God has a good plan and she uses her freedom to follow Him.

When I lay all my troubles at His feet, when I surrender my will to His instruction, it is then that I am able to embrace the freedom that the Lord provides. It is only in His freedom that I can become who He made me to be: generous, industrious, strong, dignified, fearless, shameless, blessed, trusted.

Sweet Sisters, take some time today to read or reread Proverbs 31. Really meditate on the woman God designed us to be. Ask God to help you take a good long look at anything in your life that is preventing you from developing any of the qualities listed there. Once identified, ask God to help you overcome them. Isn’t it time you dumped the weak, worried, wounded self the enemy says you are? Isn’t it time you embraced freedom in Christ and gained everything He has in store for you?

Dear Brothers, take some time today to read or reread Proverbs 31 too. Really meditate on the qualities God intends a woman to possess. Ask God to help you take a good long look at your actions and attitudes and identify any that make it difficult for the women in your life to develop these qualities. Once identified, ask God to help you replace worldly actions and attitudes with His attitude and with His actions. Isn’t it time to stop helping the enemy create weak, worried, wounded women? Isn’t it time you embraced your freedom in Christ and used it to help your Sisters do the same?

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Andrea Lemon

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3 responses to “Free to Be Who God Created You to Be”

  1. motiv8n Avatar
    motiv8n

    Beautifully written blog post! I love how you explore the idea of freedom in Proverbs 31 and how it relates to becoming who God has created us to be. It’s inspiring to see how the Proverbs 31 woman uses her freedom to give to others and experience freedom herself. My question for you is: How do you personally embrace your freedom in Christ and use it to become the person God made you to be?

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    1. Andrea Lemon Avatar
      Andrea Lemon

      Hi, that’s a great question! My apologies for the delayed response. I took a few weeks to focus more on family than writing as we prepare for school to start back soon.

      In all transparency, I didn’t have a clue how to embrace the freedom Christ gives us for most of my Christian walk. If I’m super-honest with myself, I think I abused that freedom more often than not for many years. I accepted salvation and then lived my life on my own terms using the worldly standard of what is “good” to make my decisions. It’s only in the past year or two that I’ve really begun to lean into God’s word on the subject of freedom and on the subject of obedience.

      For me, the greatest freedom that God offers us through Christ is the ability to choose well. Moment to moment, we can each choose to obey God’s word and His direction, gathering blessings for ourselves and those in our circle of influence, or we can choose to go our own way, gathering consequences and – as Deuteronomy 30:19 tells us – curses. Before accepting Christ, I did not have the freedom to choose well. I could hear God’s word in church, but without the in-dwelling of Holy Spirit, gifted through accepting Christ, I did not understand how to apply His word to my life. Without Holy Spirit, I could not hear God’s voice or discern His leading. Before Christ, I had no choice; I could only be who I naturally am – insecure, competitive, impatient, selfish, and judgmental. And, I lived with the consequences of my natural self and natural decision-making – largely, anxiety and interpersonal conflict.

      In the freedom of Christ, I am able to choose well by choosing who God has made me to be: secure in Him, collaborative through Him, patient by His power and correction (He works on me a lot on this one!), selfless as Christ is selfless, and gracious knowing that none is righteous to judge but God Himself. Through Holy Spirit, God is reworking me daily from the inside out and that has made all the difference in my mental and emotional health, my relationships with others, the success of the teaching ministries God has called me to, and so much more.

      So often, we wrongly believe that accepting Christ limits our choices, that obeying God reduces who we can become in some way. But truly, it is through Christ and in obedience to God’s word and guidance that we are truly free, free to accept blessings instead of curses, free to embrace life instead of death and not just life, but life more abundantly. The more we allow Holy Spirit to guide us through the transformation of becoming Christ-like, the greater freedom we experience from the consequences of sin and death; the more able we are to be who God has called us to be: Ambassadors for Christ, the Body of Christ.

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      1. motiv8n Avatar
        motiv8n

        Thank you for an honest and brilliant answer. It’s clear that you have thought deeply about the question I asked.

        Liked by 1 person

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