The following is a devotion from my message series 10 Steps to Freedom. I hope these devotionals help you experience lasting freedom in Jesus!

STEP EIGHT: day 1          

Establish guardrails to protect your freedom

How do I protect the freedom I’m now experiencing? By this point in the freedom process you’ve begun to experience what freedom feels like, even if it’s in fits and starts. Perhaps for the first time in years you’ve begun to have hope that freedom can be in your future. Now you have to protect the freedom you’ve begun to experience. As fragile as it might be, you need to protect the freedom you’re now experiencing so that you can build off of it and create powerful momentum moving forward. But how do you do that? So often the recovery process seems like one step forward and two steps back. You can see all of your gains wiped out in one bad night or one bad decision. How can you make sure you’re making continual process towards freedom? You need to establish guardrails in your life.

The definition of a guardrail (for automobiles) is: a strong fence on the side of a  road or the middle of an expressway, intended to prevent serious accidents. If you are going to go off the road and crash your vehicle, guardrails are designed to minimize the damage. Sometimes accidents are inevitable, but the severity of the crash can be reduced with guardrails. As inconvenient as it is to have to replace a bumper or even a totaled car, it still beats attending a funeral. The reason guardrails are in the middle of expressways is to ensure that your bad driving doesn’t negatively affect someone else’s life in oncoming traffic. The definition of a guardrail (for freedom) is: self-imposed barriers in your life designed to prevent serious relapse in your life and/or harm in the lives of others. These self-imposed barriers may seem silly or unnecessary to some, but they are designed to keep you safe and protect your freedom.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. Have you ever had a car accident? Did a guardrail protect you from further damage?
2. How necessary do you think guardrails are to protect your freedom?

You can read other devotional entries for 10 Steps to Freedom here.