Think about it: Are You Really Free?
Everyone celebrates freedom — nations, and individuals. It feels good to be free from all encumbrances. Really? The Americans just finished celebrating the 4th — July 4 in remembrance of National Independence. Some people thought the best way to celebrate their freedom is to take the lives of others and terminate their freedom on Freedom Day — “America, the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave!”
‘It seems some people are born knowing what they want to do with their lives. Others jump around, trying one thing after another, never finding a fit,” writes Dr, Charles Stanley in IN TOUCH.
Freedom is defined in the Oxford dictionary as “the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance, restraint.” Is that for real? Incredible! Would that explain why some guys took up arms on a day people celebrate their “freedom” to exercise the “right to act without hindrance or restraint?” That cannot be right!
Psalm 103:19 tells us, “The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all.” That is, nothing is left to chance. All humans are under His sovereignty- the Americans are not exempt. In other words, there is nothing like acting, speaking, or thinking as one wants without hindrance and restraint.
Even nature demands strict compliance with its rules — the law of gravity limits humans to its center. Any attempt to act otherwise results in tragedy. If you jump out of the window of a ten-storey building you will land on the earth dead. When a farmer plants grains of corn in the soil, he waits for a minimum of two to three months, allowing them to germinate, and grow their stems, leaves, and fruits — ripe enough for harvest. A pregnant woman carries the fetus waiting for thirty months to deliver a bouncing baby.
True freedom is the ability to know the truth. Truth is the reality, reality is the truth. Knowing the truth is knowing the rules for wholesome living. Knowledge and wisdom are living by the rules as laid out by the Creator of the universe.
Jesus said to his followers, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” (John 8:32). He declared for all to know: “I am the truth.” (John 14:6). Knowing Jesus is knowing the truth.
Adam and Eve in the original sin, turned their back on the truth, choosing the big lie. “The soul that sins shall die,” says Ezekiel 18:20. Death is separation from God. God is the life source. From Adam and Eve humanity inherited death, and the consequences of death. So human cultures and traditions are products of the original culture of sin and death.
Freedom is knowing and living in truth — the original truth restored in the person of Christ. It is living in line with the standard-bearer of the truth, and not by the dictates of Western, African, or Asian cultures competing to hold us captive.
Philosopher J.J. Rousseau said, “Man was born free but he is everywhere in chains.” Christ says, ”If the Son sets you free you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36).
The truth about freedom is revealed in the One who is freedom personified, His name is J E S U S!
