A supermarket shouts, “Buy one, get one free.” We wheel home a mountain of clementines, bright, fragrant and full of promise. But a week later, half of them are moulding in the fruit bowl. Saved, only to waste.
I’m Captain Rob Westwood-Payne of the Salvation Army, and this is the Battle Drill Daily Devotional. I wonder if you’ve ever done that with your time, with the opportunities you have, with the freedom that you live.
Jesus told a story like that. In Matthew 25, a master entrusts his servants with treasure before a long journey. Two of them invest. One digs a hole. When the master returns, he praises the risk-takers and rebukes the one who buried his chance. Jesus concludes, “To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given.”
Freedom works like that. Use it to love and it multiplies. Bury it in comfort and it withers. Let me take you to an ordinary scene.
It’s lunchtime in an open-plan office. Screens hum, microwaves beep and the smell of coffee fills the air. A colleague, one who’s quiet and often overlooked, packs her bag in silence. You notice her swollen eyes. Now, you could scroll the headlines. You could check your emails. Or you could take your freedom and cross the room. Two small words: “You okay?”
Kingdom seed. She hesitates, then whispers about a parent’s diagnosis. You listen. You pray. Yes, right there, by the kettle. Nothing dramatic. Just faithful. That’s how the kingdom grows, through ordinary courage.
Paul puts it very plainly in Galatians 5, verse 13: “Use your freedom to serve one another in love.” The world says that freedom means doing whatever you want. Jesus reframed it as power to do what’s needed. Real freedom bends outward, you see. It feeds. It visits. It notices. It gives. It risks reputation to protect the vulnerable. It says, “My time is God’s. My gifts are God’s. My freedom is God’s.”
But let’s be honest for a moment. Are you ever tempted to bury that freedom because you’re afraid to get it wrong? The third servant wasn’t punished for losing money. He was condemned for refusing to try. It was fear that froze him.
Faith grows by use. Courage grows by small risks. Mercy grows every time you step towards pain instead of away from it. Freedom decays in storage. It thrives in service. Like muscles, it strengthens only through resistance.
During the Second World War, Sir Winston Churchill called Nazism a “monstrous tyranny.” Our grandparents faced it with, as he said, “all the strength that God can give us.” Many of them never came home. Their courage bought us space to choose. Space to live. Space to speak. Space to worship. And space to serve.
So, what would you choose today? Consumption or compassion? Distraction or devotion? Safety or service? Every choice we make either invests or buries what others died to give us.
Your challenge today: take 20 minutes of undistracted freedom. Ask, “Lord, who needs me right now?” Then act. Send the message. Sign up for the community meal rota. Deliver a bag to the food bank. Pray with intention. Use your lunchtime liberty to love.
Because when you invest freedom, God entrusts more. More capacity, more joy and more opportunity. Not for ego. For others. For Jesus. Now that’s the kind of return that heaven celebrates.
Let’s pray together.
Father, thank you for the freedom I enjoy. Rescue me from selfish use of it. Teach my heart to serve. Lead me to one person, to one need, to one act that honours those who sacrificed and honours you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Thanks so much for watching Battle Drill Daily Devotional. If you found today’s message helpful, please like, share and subscribe so we can keep bringing daily encouragement to more people. And for more devotionals and resources, head over to battledrilldevotional.com. Stay strong and stay battle ready.