Freedom

Freedom is a longing found deep in the soul of mankind. It is one of my treasured words* because it is a holy ideal that originates not with men or governments, but in the heart of God.

When God created the first humans, he gave them freedom. Adam and Eve could make their own choices: What section of the garden will we tend today? What path will we stroll along this evening? Shall we eat the fruit God said not to? Their freedom included being able to choose right or wrong.

This magnificent freedom encompasses all aspects of our life, too. We are free to choose what to wear and eat and read, where to live and shop and worship. We are free to make mistakes and learn from them. And, like Adam and Eve, we are even free to choose a path that can hurt ourselves and others. Because of that, not everyone experiences to the same degree the freedom God has bestowed on us.

Our Founding Fathers understood that we have to be vigilant to keep our God-given freedoms. They believed that “liberty survives not because institutions are perfect but because citizens are willing to defend their rights.” [1]

John Hancock said,

“Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual…Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.”

Many have sacrificed through history to preserve my freedoms. That causes me to treasure them even more.

~~~

There is another freedom I treasure dearly. It also comes from God, but unlike the physical freedoms above, it can’t be eroded by a person, government, or circumstance. It is the freedom we have in Christ Jesus if we choose to follow him.

Although the Bible is full of instances of God freeing people from physical encumbrances, such as the Israelites from the oppressive Egyptians (Exodus 13-14), Peter from prison (Acts 12:1-11), and the leper from his disease (Luke 5:12-13), we can experience freedom in our spirit in the midst of an evil regime, our personal prison, or physical hardships.

Paul said we are “through Christ Jesus…set free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). Our sin is a death sentence (Romans 6:23). It prevents us from having a relationship with the eternal God. But through the blood of Jesus, we are given freedom to spend eternity with him.

We don’t have to wait, though, because we are meant to experience these newfound freedoms here and now, every day. Here are some of the freedoms available to those who are in Christ Jesus:

We are free from condemnation (Romans 8:1). The law condemns, but when Jesus took our punishment, he destroyed the power of the law over us. We are now justified and free from guilt.

We are free from fear for “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear…” (1 John 4:18). Jesus is that perfect love. Paul was convinced that nothing in all creation could ever “separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). Since we have security in God’s love, we have nothing to fear.

We are not only free from unwanted things; we are free to engage in many activities we couldn’t as slaves to the enemy.

We are free to approach Almighty God at any time and do so with confidence that we will be welcomed (Ephesians 3:12).

We are free to serve one another in love (Galatians 5:13) now that we are no longer enslaved to self.

We are free to live as servants of God (1 Peter 2:16) because God can now enlighten our minds to understand his teachings, fill us with desire to live righteously, and enable us to make good choices.

These freedoms are more desirous and precious because they do not depend on, nor can they be taken away by, our physical circumstances. Richard Wurmbrand was imprisoned for his faith for 14 years in Communist Romania. He explained how suffering Christians can still live free:

There was once a fiddler who played so beautifully that everybody danced. A deaf man who could not hear the music considered them all mad. Those who are with Jesus in suffering hear this music to which other men are deaf. They dance and do not care if they are considered insane.

Their hearts are free. The psalmist said, “I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free” (Psalm 119:32). It is also translated “you will enlarge my heart” and “you have broadened my understanding.”

A free heart is “delivered from all hindrances to what is right” [2] and is enlarged with more knowledge of God, with an unfettered love for him, and with a delight in his ways [3]. The psalmist expresses a great affection for God’s commands, a great delight and pleasure in them. [4]

Because the heart is free, we don’t just walk with God. We run with him, unhindered. There’s a scene in Little House on the Prairie that depicts such joyous liberation [5]:

Adam, blind since childhood, regains his sight after a freak accident. He takes his wife, Mary, out for a drive so he can see some of the world he's missed for so long. Driving through the countryside, he is overwhelmed with the colors that are so much more vivid than he remembers. He stops the carriage and gets out.

His new world of light calls and he just has to run. We see him flying across the rolling landscape; splashing through a creek like a giddy child; stumbling, falling, getting back up, and laughingly taking off again; jumping for the sky. From the top of a ridge he turns back and calls Mary's name.

She is concerned: Adam, are you all right?

Out of breath but intoxicated with joy, he screams: All right? I'm wonderful! I'm more than all right! The world is wonderful! (Now looking up and arms pumping toward the sky with each word) World...you...are...wonderful!

This is a picture of the freedom we can experience in Jesus because it is based purely on what he has done for us and on our relationship with him. No one can take that from us.

Freedom is

• an expression of God’s love for his creation
• a precious possession that must be preserved through tremendous sacrifice
• dancing to the music of God’s voice in the worst circumstances
• my spirit running unconstrained, joyfully declaring that it is “more than all right”

This is why freedom is a word in my treasure chest.

*Treasured Words are words that have special value to me. Hearing them causes brilliant light and comforting warmth to radiate from a place deep inside me and fill my soul with a sense of well-being.

[1] 14 Founding Fathers Quotes That Still Define Freedom 

[2] Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

[3] Benson Commentary

[4] Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

[5] Little House on the Prairie, Season 7 Episode 10: “To See the Light” (Part 1)

Feature photo by Cody Otto on Unsplash

Scripture quotations are from NIV.

Commentary notes are from Bible Hub. See Resources.