Gospel

---

Freedom is More Than Being Able to do Whatever You Want

by Dan Blankenship




My local newspaper, The Times (original, aren’t they?), recently ran a story about drug and alcohol addiction. As I read through the heartbreaking stories of grown men whose lives were destroyed by their dependencies, I kept wondering how much of their plight was caused by the abuse of freedom.

The world loves to tell us that the freedom to do whatever we want, whenever we want, is fine, as long as no one else is hurt by our actions. But the truth is, when humans do whatever they want, whenever they want, it is usually not long before things to get out of control. Very soon people our hurt, and hurt badly. Some of the men in the feature haven’t seen their family in years. Some are behind bars.

None of the men in the piece just went out and started doing hard core drugs, but all of them started hanging out with a bad crowd. And all of them made bad decision after bad decision. Nowhere in any of the stories did any of the men mention a guardian or a mentor who tried to steer them in the right direction. All of the men did admit to knowingly surrounding themselves with people who were not exactly role models.

Many people have a distorted view of what freedom is. Yes, freedom is an awesome thing. However, real freedom comes through living the way the Creator of the universe wants us to live. Jesus says in John 8:31-32 (NIV), “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

When we look a little further into that same chapter, we hear Jesus explain the true (and I believe very exciting) meaning of freedom. “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)

Living as slaves to sin, there is no real freedom. No matter how the world manipulates the definition of freedom, apart from God, we are traveling down a road that leads to death and destruction. So even if we are free to move about the land, free to buy and sell goods, free to befriend anyone we like, and free to say whatever we want, we don’t experience the kind of freedom God wants us to know until we have been set free from the prison of sin. The Son of God holds the key to that cellblock, and He is always willing to set another captive free. He just needs to be asked. I pray that the men in The Times’ story will be asking soon.

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE