It’s January. The holidays are over, company is gone, and my house needs a freshness. I pondered this in the store while considering the six-inch pots filled with vibrant green foliage in my hands. Two little life-giving fresh air producers.

Once home, I looked over my new houseplants carefully. The insert told me only their name and care instructions. How big would these look-a-like palm trees become? Would I need to repot them multiple times? Would I eventually need to move them to the floor in my living room? The delicate, deep-green tropical leaves shone with simplicity yet vitality. I kind of liked them small–like a puppy. A kitten versus a cat.

If I kept them in these little pots, would they stay small? I reached for my phone to google more information but got interrupted by my thoughts. Are we that way? If we stay in small, confined situations do we stay small? Internally small? Do we hamper ourselves by not taking opportunities and stretching beyond our artificial, self-imposed boundaries?

The words of Paul came to my mind:
We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also. 2 Corinthians 6:11-13 (ESV)

Now my conscience worked overtime to comprehend. Passions, addictions, even food. Philippians 3:19 refers to the unsaved like this, “…their God is their belly and their glory is there shame.” I want to stay far from that description. But even Paul understood the fight with the flesh. Romans 7:18-19 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing…
22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

Then Paul gives glory to God who helps him up out of his tendency to stay stuck in his flesh. This section of scripture leads into the most hope-filled passage of the Bible–Romans 8, where Paul tells us how committed God is to us through all circumstances of this world. One important distinction is that all this hope is to those who are in Christ Jesus who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit, stating, Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Then Paul gives us this hope, You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. Romans 8:8-9 (ESV)

Jesus is our answer. By looking to Him and obeying His orders, we say no to our flesh in areas of sin but also in areas that encroach on our life-giving freedoms. Many liberties out of balance confine us from the bigger more important, eternal purposes. I settle for a brownie when I’m disappointed instead of the depths of His word. I get overly fixated on my food instead of the conversation and souls at my table. I could be speaking words of life if I were in tune and less self-focused. God help me not to be confined by my flesh.

Remember how tired, hungry, and thirsty Jesus was at the well? But meeting that outcast woman’s needs, by speaking words of life to her, somehow met His needs, too. His disciples came back with food for him, but he wasn’t hungry any more. Jesus said to them,” My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” John 4:14 (ESV)
If we keep doing the same old thing, we will miss the more exhilarating parts of life. Oh, that we will say yes to God—the most freeing, energizing force we will ever know.
Say yes! And live unconfined.

1. Say no to the flesh
2. Delight in God verse our normal quick satisfaction attempts
3. Enjoy all God is giving you in the broader spectrum—relationships, sunshine, exercise, freedom, prayer, Bible (anchoring ourselves in truth), and yes absolutely pleasures of this life food, sleep, intimacy—all in balance with God’s design.

In Ephesians 3:17-19 Paul prays, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to all the fullness of God. (ESV)