September 20, 2005
True Freedom (blogging view sample)
July 3, 2005
I was thinking about USA's Independence Day tomorrow, July 4th. One reason I was thinking about it is because it has been extremely hot and dry in many parts of the USA. A dangerous time for fireworks and such.
But as I was thinking, I wondered about what it means to be free. My experience is that most people don't understand true freedom. I work as a Systems Administrator, and I can tell you that most MIS/Sys Admin types lost control over their datacenters a long time ago. They exchanged their freedom to make their own determinations about technology... their own schedules with regards to upgrades... and they did this willingly. While it is always easiest to blame it on the fact that Microsoft is a monopoly, seems to me, the people are volunteering to be a Microsoft slave.
Think about it. When someone asks, "Why was the system down last weekend?" You can simply say, "We did a Microsoft upgrade and it broke some things."
So, in this case, slavery becomes a good thing. It gives us something to blame our incompetance on. But it's still slavery.
I can imagine the early "Americans" who were under British rule... I imagine some were very content to not rock the boat... some probably liked the ability to blame all of their problems on the fact that they were a British Colony. Very convenient.
So true freedom is probably not convenient. It's probably not easy. In fact, it may not even be desired. Slavery I think is easy. I believe it's associated with the wider smoother pathway. Don't want to be responsible? Don't want to work? Don't want to think about others? Don't want to take the blame? Slavery might be your thing.
I think if you really want to understand anything, your best bet is to ask somebody that understands the subject matter. The only person that could possibly understand true freedom would be the author of freedom, the giver of freedom, one who liberates us all, Jesus Christ.
31To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:31-32
But Jesus paid it all. The cost of freedom was the human life of Jesus Christ. The Good News is that Jesus also rose from the dead (emphasis on dead). So what? How does that answer the question about true freedom?
34Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:34-36
Jesus died to set us free from our slavery to sin. BUT, the Word of God also tells us that "all have sinned" and Romans 7 tells us:
4We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to dothis I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
The truth is that we are like contemporary Sys Admins... we are slaves. Slaves to sin because we live in our fallen state in our flesh. Yet, for those who believe in Christ, we get to be called Sons. In John Ch 1:
10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God 13children born not of natural descent,[c] nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only,[d] who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
So freedom is always expensive and living in freedom is not automatic. Yet, we can all be called FREE. And if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are declared to be truly free. The question is, with so great a salvation, "How will you live now?" Especially in light of Galatians 5:1,
1It 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.
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