Entitlement vs. Freedom

I have been reading a few books by th author Tullian Tchividian. His books have been reminding of truth about my need for Christ. As I was reading today, I decided the quote I was writing down was worthy of a blog post. "God reminded me that in Christ I was already free. I was already redeemed- purchased from the slave market of sin and death. The deep liberation I craved, I already had. I was now forever free.Contrary to what I had thought, I did not need easing circumstances, relief from difficulty, and distance from pain in order to be free. I was learning that the freedom Jesus secured for me is not freedom from pain and suffing here and now. Rather, it's freedom from bitterness, anger, fear, resentment, self-pity, offense, and hopelessness in the crucible of present pain and suffering; it is freedom from MY burdensome sense of " I deserve better," the encumbrance of entitlement. I was realizing that only the gospel can free us from the enslaving pressure to defend ourselves." (jesus + nothing =everything, pg. 75-76). Wow, I have been viewing freedom in a broken mirror. I have been seeing a distorted picture of what true freedom is. It is not freedom from the scars of this world. It is not an easier life in terms of less grief or an ability to knumb the effects of the world. It is rather the knowledge that as a sinner I am not entitled to a certain kind of life. I do not have to prove my worth or "goodness" for God to love and accept me. I have been redeemed due to someone else`s doing. I can not boast that I had anything to do with it. Nor can I demand or expect to have certain experiences, relationships, or material possessions. As a Christian I have been given freedom from having to prove my worth.I am free from having to try to figure out why I was being punished when bad things happened. I am free to face the day knowing that Christ is on my side, he has already concured death and has allowed me to live a life free from feeling the insecurity I feel because he has secured my fate. He has given me an identity in Him. Now it is time to try to convince my thoughts of these truths that I know.