SEEKING FREEDOM

 

John 8:31-32 (NIV)
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

               Freedom is something that is highly valued by most people. We pride ourselves that we live in the land of the free, although some people don’t feel free. Freedom is something that many people are striving for; a lifelong goal that often seems to be just out of reach. One of the problems with this pursuit of freedom is that we do not all agree on what freedom is and how it can be attained.

               In a superficial way, many people define freedom as the ability to do whatever I want to do. I want to be free to decide what is right and wrong for me. I want to be free to go where I want to go and do what I want to do without restraints. This works for a while until it crashes into an unavoidable barrier.

               Recently there have been several incidents of people who felt that they were free to deface and destroy things in national parks. There was a famous balanced rock that some people felt they were free to push over, even though it had stayed there balanced for hundreds of years. In their efforts to express their freedom they have denied others the freedom to experience something amazing. Several of these freedom seekers have found that their freedom has been taken away because of their actions. There are limits to exercising our freedom.

               The area that we most commonly hear people talk about freedom is morality. People want to be free to define their own morality without having to conform to some outside standard. This has led to the idea that a person is free to engage in sex with anyone that they choose, without ongoing obligations. For the moment this feels like a freeing experience, but in the long run it actually curtails a person’s true freedom. Instead of drawing individuals closer together it objectifies the other person and isolates the freedom seeker. True sexual fulfillment is found not in a sexual free-for-all, but in a long-term, committed relationship.

               To genuinely love another person, we have to give up our independence. Instead of only seeking what makes me happy, I intentionally focus on making the other person happy. A genuine love relationship between a man and a woman is always an exclusive arrangement. I give up my freedom to date others in order to commit myself totally to my spouse. Instead of being confining, this actually becomes liberating and exhilarating. By fully investing in the other person, I become more the person I really want to be.

               Living a totally independent, free life, without obligations to others is actually a kind of slavery. It is slavery to my selfish wants and desires, which become harder and harder to fulfill. C.S. Lewis put it well.

“Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries: avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in the casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless- it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation.”

               Many people reject Christianity because they believe that it will rob them of their freedom. They begin to list all of the things they will have to give up as an excuse for not believing. Yet, what Jesus offers us is true freedom, not spiritual bondage.

               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. John 8:34-36 (NIV)

               For anything to be truly free, it must live within the boundaries of what it was created for. A fish is truly free only if it is in water. Taken outside of the restraints of the water the fish dies. We were created in the image of God to live in relationship with God and to express his glory. Sin is the rejection of this original design. Sin is the desire to live for my glory and in the way I want to live. But, just like the fish taken out of water, living outside of God’s design does not bring freedom, but death. To be genuinely free, I must live within the boundaries that God has designed.

               Boundaries, rather than taking away our freedom, allow us to exercise our freedom in positive ways. A couple of years ago we took a trip to Norway to visit our exchange student. One day, she took us to a place called Pulpit Rock. It is this amazing, sheer cliff that rises 1,982 feet above the fjord. At the top is a flat top that measures approximately 82 feet square. It takes over 2 hours to climb to the top. On the way up and on the summit, there are no safety fences or barriers. Although many people went right to the edge of the cliff to look down, the absence of safety fences prohibited me from doing the same. If there had been safety fences. I would have felt free to go to the edge, but not without them.

               Many people feel no fear at living life on the edge, but they forget the danger that the edge represents. Living within the spiritual boundaries that God has created allows me to freely experience life without the fear of falling off the edge. I can even explore the boundaries at times because God has provided a safety net for me. If I choose to disregard the boundaries there is not safety net to catch me when I fall. It is a long way down from the top.

               When I place my faith in Jesus, I am free to fully engage with others. I can risk getting involved and even attached. I can explore life with confidence and direction, not aimlessly. Freedom without boundaries is not really freedom, it is anarchy. It sounds great to insist that I am free to do my own thing, until we realize the consequences of giving that same freedom to everyone else. Soon, our selfish freedom will collide with other people’s selfish freedom and result in some pretty unpleasant results. A river that flows within its boundaries is beautiful and beneficial. When it overflows its boundaries, it becomes destructive. The same is true of our individual freedom.

Galatians 5:13 (NIV)
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.