Above The Fray

I sat at the intersection waiting for the light to turn green.
This particular traffic light is unusually long.
It is a busy intersection near a shopping mall and a smaller shopping center.
Cars were zooming by on the road in front of me.

Beyond the blur of the moving cars I saw it.
It flew back and forth over each waiting car.
It flew low almost touching the roof rack of a waiting SUV.
It was a bird that flew in front of windshields and over the hoods of cars.

It dipped expertly between the waiting cars.
I would lose sight of the bird for a second.
Sure enough it would fly up from between two cars and fly to the car behind.
It appeared to me that the bird was teasing the cars.

It seemed to say, look at me; I don’t have to wait at a traffic light.
I am free!
I can fly over, above, beside, and behind with nothing in my way.
How about you, are you free?

I know that the bird could not talk.
I know that the bird was just being a bird.
There was no teasing or taunting.
But as I personified the bird, I imagined a bit of Na, Na, Na, Na, Na!

The bird was just being a bird.
I was just a woman in a car obeying the traffic laws at a busy intersection.
Even though the question was not actually asked, I still thought about it.
How about you, are you free?

I almost envied the bird as I watched it fly to and fro.
I remember that I said to myself, how nice to be above the fray.
Those two thoughts stayed with me in such a powerful way, I had to write them down.
How about you, are you free? and How nice to be above the fray.

I looked at all the cars lined up in my direction.
I looked at all the cars lined up across the road in the opposite direction.
If any of us decided to disregard the traffic laws, we would have been hit by another car.
It was our turn to wait; it was their turn to go.

Sometimes people will ask situational questions and expect you to answer them.
Imagine you are at a traffic light at 3:00 in the morning.
No one is around and you are alone at the intersection.
Do you drive through the red light?

The laws apply whether it is 3:00 in the morning or 3:00 in the afternoon.
The laws apply whether there are a lot of cars at the traffic light or only one.
The laws apply.
Situational ethics is a dangerous thing.

I watched the bird perch on top of the traffic light pole that stretched across the road.
It just perched there.
It was free to fly away or come back.
It took full advantage of its freedom.

We, on the other hand, waiting for the light to turn green, did not have such freedom.
We were rule followers for our own protection.
If we ventured out into the roadway in reckless abandon, we would have been hit.
The rules were there to protect us.

God gave the Law to Moses.
The Law had boundaries and limits for the protection of the people.
However, the Law was impossible to keep perfectly.
The Law was in place to show people their desperate need for a Savior.

The Pharisees tried to keep the Law perfectly.
In fact, the Pharisees were so precise they even added the Oral Tradition.
The Oral Tradition was man made rules not God-ordained ones.
Jesus never sinned, never once broke God’s Law, but disregarded man’s extra-Biblical law.

To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves to anyone. How can You say that we shall be set free?” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:31-36)

Did the Jews forget so easily that they had been slaves in Egypt?
Do we forget that we are all slaves?
Before we come to Jesus for our salvation, we are slaves to sin.
After coming to faith in Christ Jesus we are slaves to God.

But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. (Romans 6:17,18)

When the Son of God sets us free, we are free indeed.
Like the bird who flew above the traffic, we are above the fray.
No longer slaves of sin but rather slaves to righteousness.
In Christ, we have one Master and we have true freedom.

The Law makes us aware of our sin but the Law cannot save.
We try to dot every “i” and cross every “t” which is impossible.
The Law shows us that we fall short.
We try harder and harder to fulfill the Law’s demands.

We become legalistic when we are slaves to sin.
It becomes all about us and what we can do.
It is not about us, it is about HIM.
It is about Jesus the only One who kept the Law perfectly and was without sin.

If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
That truth is not a reason to taunt, or tease, or say Na, Na, Na, Na, Na.
That truth is a reason to point others towards the Master.
That is the only way they too can know true freedom and be above the fray.

How about you, are you free?
How nice to be above the fray.
Be a slave to God and to His righteousness.
Be a slave and be truly free!