TRUE FREEDOM

 Galatians 5:13

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.

                What does freedom mean to you? How would you define it? If we listen to the rhetoric of our day, freedom is the right to do whatever I want to do without interference from others. In other words, freedom is ultimate self-indulgence.

                The Bible gives us a very different picture of what freedom is. First and foremost, freedom is release from our bondage to sin. Sin is a cruel master. It promises us what it cannot deliver, then mocks us for being so gullible. Sin is like spiritual quicksand; it draws us deeper and deeper into its suffocating clutches. To be honest, at first sin seems enticing and even fun. But once we take the bait, it begins the process of distorting our soul. We become slaves to the whims of sin, unable to resist. Like the drug addict or the alcoholic, we become dependent on sin. The longer we indulge, the more we must consume just to get some dark reward. Sin is like spiritual salt water that promises to quench our thirst, but only makes us thirstier.

                Jesus came into the world to rescue us from our downward spiral of sin. He died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin and He offers us, not a fresh start, but a new life in Him.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

                 When we place our faith in Jesus, we are set free from our bondage to sin. It is not that sin disappears, but we now have the power to resist its entreaties. We are no longer slaves to sin, but sons and daughters of God. As Paul says in Romans 6:22-23, But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

                But that is not the end of the story of freedom. True freedom is the opposite of selfish indulgence. True freedom is the ability to love and serve others with no strings attached. Too often our relationships are based on what we can get from the other person. That approach places us in bondage to the opinions and actions of others. We begin to measure our life by how other people see us and how they treat us. The freedom we receive from Christ allows us to love others as ourselves; to really care more about the well-being of the other person than what we can get from them. Our sense of purpose and self-worth are found in our relationship with Jesus. Because we know that He loves us unconditionally, we can love others in the same way. We are truly free to be a blessing to others. True freedom changes our focus from being inward to being outward.

Philippians 2:3-4

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

                 There is still another aspect of true freedom. True freedom allows us to become the people God created us to be. A person who is truly free does not live in constant competition with those around them. A person who is truly free is able to use their gifts and talents without their ego getting in the way. They live humble, simple lives that reflect the very character of God. As the Holy Spirit does His work in a person’s life, they are transformed from the inside out. They begin to bear the fruit of the Spirit in their everyday lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Humility becomes a dominant feature of the person who is truly free.

Ephesians 5:8-10

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.

                 True freedom is not found in self-indulgence. Self-indulgence is really bondage to sin. True freedom is found in giving over the control of our lives to Christ and living under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

John 8:34-36

Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.