What Does Freedom Really Mean?

 

"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." 

~Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

As a teenager, I used to cry to my dad because of his strict rules for me, often saying, "Why don't you just lock me up and throw away the key!"  Dramatic much?  I fought back, thinking I knew best, that I had control over my behavior, and that I would always make the right choice and not need anyone's help.  I viewed all of his rules as obstructions to my freedom.  

All my poor sweet dad was intending to do was set some sensible boundaries to protect me from boys with not-so-good intentions, laziness, idleness, and just general teenage girl tendencies that possibly reaped life-altering consequences he had witnessed too frequently as a high school principal.  He just wanted the best for me.

As America celebrates their 250th year as an independent country, our founding doctrines guarantee us freedom from an overreaching tyrannical government interfering in our lives; we can worship freely, speak & think freely, choose our own paths, live where & how we want. We have a judicial system that guarantees us rights within it, and the government cannot come take our property at their will.

Other countries do not have these freedoms, yet vocal Americans (because of these rights of freedom) over the years have always protested that it's not enough, it's done the wrong way, it's too much, it's done with this intention or that.  It seems everyone wants to live in what is their own idea of freedom, with that idea in constant change.

God established the role of government to protect us, from each other and from ourselves (kind of like what parents try to do).  

The truth is the only true freedom is given to us from our Heavenly Father above, and it has not changed, and He does not change (Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8).  Jesus said-

"And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." John 8:32

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:36

Being born in sin put us in bondage to sin, destined for an eternity without God.  But because God loves us so much, He sent His Son to die on the cross for those sins, and set us free from that bondage.  

We can choose to live in that true freedom by living in a relationship with Him, not as a slave to a list of dos and don'ts the Law previously gave us, or in constant attempts to attain goodness.  

Some mistakenly think a government sets them free.  Our American constitution protects our way of life, true, but it's scope is limited to external freedom.  

And governments change- any glance at history shows that.  Though many died to protect our freedom in America, other countries have not had that privilege, and some in the U.S. don't appreciate it.

Some foolishly mistake that a life of following Jesus is just a bunch of rules and no fun, and that if they aren't in control of their lives they aren't free.  

Sadly, they don't see that it's a fulfilling relationship with our Savior who adores us so much He laid down His life for our sin,  wanting only our best in a hostile world that is ruled by a being that hates us and seeks to kill and destroy us.  Jesus died for our souls to be free. 

Like a selfish, rebellious teenager, many resist the guidelines given in His Word, are ignorant of them, or give them no heed at all.  Yet God is so patient because He wants us to return back to Him of our own free will, not forced.  

Though America celebrates freedom as a country, today let's thank God He gives us the ultimate freedom in Him and Him alone, no matter where we live.

✙ Dear Heavenly Father, today let our hearts overflow with gratitude to You for the freedom our souls have to worship You.  No matter where we live, let us praise and worship You because You made us and are saving a place for us to live with You forever.  No one and nothing can take that from us.  True freedom is in You! Amen.