Freedom Require Price Not Super Powers
Someone always pays
Once people taste freedom, it’s hard for them not to, long and seek it, no matter the level of oppression or suppression they may have to deal with — whether it is spiritual, physical, political, or economic freedom.
Freedom comes with a cost, and everyone gets to pay it somehow.
However, it's possible to taste freedom or have a longing for it, but at the same time, have no commitment to it.
Last year, 2021 I watched the news with dismay. I saw how Afghan families, especially women, were eagerly trying to escape the nation after the Taliban takeover. Why? Because freedom was at stake.
While the US military operation was on in the country, and a democratically elected government was running the country, women could attend schools, work in the government, and have a public life. Under the Taliban, it wasn’t possible for women to have a public life. Women were suppressed and their rights are taken away.
When the US toppled the Taliban government two decades ago, Afghan continued to experience insurgency from the Taliban opposition, but with the presence and support of the US military, the country made some “progress” which saw girls expressing their liberty in chosen fields and making contributions to the development of the country.
But when the US decided to withdraw from the country last year, 2021, under Joe Biden’s leadership, it was a demoralizing move for the people of Afghan. No wonder it didn’t take time before the US-supported Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban took over again.
The leadership of the country lost their will, fled and the army collapsed. Not because it wasn’t equipped or trained, it was, at least by their US collaboration for 2 decades. In fact, Joe Biden admitted that the collapse of Afghan forces was faster than anticipated. So, America anticipated it too. The US failed by overrating the will of the Afghan forces.
Where there is no will, there is no way.
Somehow, Biden seemed justified for his decision to pull out the US army and his statement made that clear: “American troops cannot and should not be fighting and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to die for themselves”.
Well, the forces may have grown weary of battle or unwilling to die, as Biden put it. However, that meant something for the citizens: they aren’t sure of their freedom anymore.
Since no one was willing to continue to pay the needed price, the airport became cramped up — a mass exodus of people.
In a desperate quest to flee, some parents who couldn’t find a way to escape, flung their kids across the walls into the hands of strangers (who successfully crossed over), maybe never to see their kids again for life.
They didn’t want to imagine what life held for those kids if left in Afghan. They desired more than anything, to be in the safety of other countries that have paid some price for their own freedom. And they preferred to hope and imagine that their kids would be better off in an unknown land.
Freedom can be that costly — especially where Christ and His kingdom systems are far!
A little reflection on when no one pays
As I penned this down, I began to imagine what lack of will might have cost me or you, my reader.
How many people are poor today and struggling because the price of success was ignored?
How many people failed an exam for unwillingness to pay the price of passing which is studying hard?
How many families are suffering today because parents refused to lay a solid foundation?
And how many nations are in the dark right now because the light-bearers are hiding their torches?
Jesus paid for our sin, sickness, and poverty by undergoing capital punishment; and that price was made with the whole world mind. Not for the Christian alone. Not even for the Jews alone. But for every soul.
But how many beneficiaries (believers today) love Him (Christ) enough for the price He paid and are willing to pay their own price which entails letting the gospel reach one more soul?
Don’t we just want to sit in our churches and it will fill itself by “default”, with sinners who just repented, without anyone groaning in prayer, reaching out, and showing love?
If the world around us must be saved, someone must pay the price of going.
I read in the Bible where God told Israel that he has given them the land.
“Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle.” (Deut 2: 24)
Wait a minute, I thought God was saying He just gave Israel the land? So why is there a need for possessing and contending with those occupants of the land in battle? The cost of freedom.
What Jesus did on the cross becomes futile when the church is docile and lukewarm. Just like lukewarm water can be felt but not capable of cooking something up, a church that doesn’t pay a price may be felt but cannot transform society. All the reformations and revivals in history we have read of were born out of men and women who went the extra mile in their faith.
We don’t need supermen, we need super wills and sacrifices.
People will act differently if they have, against all odds mentality, and there wasn’t an excuse to give.
When people fail, they may say, “it is because I couldn’t adapt to the teacher”, or, “I was down”, or, “I didn’t come from a very privileged family”, or, “we didn’t have sophisticated weapons for the battle” as I watched on a documentary, one Afghan soldier was whining during the handover of leftover military equipment, “they have taken the important things, the radar…”
In these days of fantasy and superman movies, some could say, “Well, I failed because I don’t have superpowers. If I was a superman like Spiderman, I could have conquered.”
Does that remind you of the twelve spies Moses sent to spy the land of Canan?
Ten out of the twelve spies (remember that those spies are top military leaders in Moses army) said (paraphrasing): Ah, the men we saw in Canan are giants and supermen, and we are like grasshoppers in their eyes; we can’t take them on, if we do, they will crush us under their feet like the insects we are.
Three million people’s will were broken that day because of the negative reports or to put it better, excusing excuses.
But the message of the Bible is clear that you don’t need to have special powers to make a difference.
The book of James 5: 17 (New King James) brings good clarity to this: Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months
Elijah did not have any superpowers, Bible made it clear he was subject to passions like us. He even had fear and anxiety problems that made him flee. He even was discouraged, like every one of us, and wanted God to kill him. He even seemed selfish with transferring the mantle.
But one thing stood him out: will and sacrifice. He gave God his will in prayer and God used him to bring His own will which was a revival of the entire nation. His readiness to give God his all, stand before God’s presence in prayer, transformed him into a superman who the wind could carry away, who could singlehandedly behead 400 priests of Baal, who could travel into the mountains 40 days and 40 nights on the strength of one meal, who could stop rain for three years and bring it down again, who could overrun chariots, who could path the Jordan, and who could go the heaven by fire transport.
So, what’s the cost of freedom?
From the above, the cost of freedom is simply involvement.
When you get more involved in living your life, you will gain greater freedom.
When parents get more involved in raising their families, they’ll enjoy more peace, freedom, and growth.
Being involved in living your life means you will fight off Sihon the Amorite. It could be sin, bad habits, negative thoughts, bad influences, toxic relationships, mindsets that are currently occupying your life.
Consciously you will begin to focus, meditate, affirm and do daily what you really need: peace, love, success, prosperity, joy, vision, and hard work.
Empathy, another price of freedom
Sometimes because we enjoy light, peace, and little stress where we are, we seem to have no empathy for those living in the dark or under terrible oppression and suppression.
Freedom is one thing everyone yearns for — all the hustle and labor for success are because of this single desire, freedom.
Sometimes, when friends become enemies, it’s because of the quest for freedom. One party probably is feeling bugged or sucked in.
Freedom is at the core of human struggle and pursuits. Yet, it tends to be far. Even worse, because of the pattern of pursuit.
Freedom sometimes requires capital payment — the type Jesus paid. Some require fasting and prayers. Some require repentance. Some require political will. Some require a military operation. Some even require just walking away.
People are more willing to be involved when they are directly involved and tend to recoil when they are not.
But empathy says, we’re in this together, I can feel what you’re feeling. Empathy brings one into the shoe of another. The truth is the world will be a better place if people become more empathic. But in the absence of it, evil keeps growing, and as they say, what goes around comes around.
Imagine what the world will be like if fire caught your house, you needed help but your neighbors say, we mind our businesses here. Empathy is the price we pay to make the world ok for us and our children.
More empathy will lead to peace, joy, fulfillment, and sense of purpose.
The greatest freedom
Paul in his writing made a profound freedom state, which I think is one of the most important statements on freedom in the world.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (Gal 5:1).
The knowledge of Christ brings eternal freedom from sin and sorrow. Wealth, fame, and position cannot offer freedom for the soul of man. Innate in every man is a desire to connect to his maker. There is a void within that alcohol, drugs, sex, and affluence cannot fill. Only the Spirit of God can fill that void. If you’ve not experienced that, you may have financial freedom, but you’re still bound.
Freedom indeed comes when Christ sets you free. All that is required is faith and open confession to the Lordship of Christ. After this experience, darkness may still try to confuse you, oppress you, or yoke you in, but you have the power (in prayer, fellowship with true believers, and the word of God) to do what Paul advised in Gal 5:1: do not let yourself be burdened again by the yoke of slavery, it is for freedom that Christ set you free.
Conclusion
Freedom truly requires sacrifice and not superpowers. What unlocks superman's abilities is your involvement, your willingness to bring a change, and your dependence on the higher powers given by the creator. Whatever freedom we enjoy today was gotten by someone. It takes a price to maintain them too.
Life is littered with examples of people who won lotteries, inherited wealth, or won jackpots who lost the same easily because they lack the discipline (cost) of maintaining such gifts from the universe.
Oftentimes, we even see a believer in Christ who leads a life that does not meet the standard of divine nature we’ve been given in Christ. Why? because to inherit all the possibilities require the active involvement of faith, growth, and faithfulness. Not all things that come in Christ come as gifts, some things can be rewards of faithfulness.
