Yesterday the boys and I rode horses at the A.V. for their 4th of July celebration. One of the ladies that rode with us has a beautiful horse named Freedom. She chose that name based on the Bible passage that says, "where the Lord is, there is freedom."
As we celebrated our country's freedom yesterday, I happened to be finishing a book on the struggle between the pioneers and the Indians. The book addressed the freedom that the Americans took from the Indians as they moved through the country and the freedom that the Indians took from the Americans when they murdered and tortured them.
Freedom is a complicated idea. So many times what we call freedom is getting our own way. Being able to do anything we want, any time we want. But when we do whatever we want, we often infringe on the freedom of others. So I am thinking that our definition of freedom is wrong. If not, there is no way for everyone to have freedom at the same time. Yet the Bible says that true freedom for everyone is found in the presence of the Lord.
This is interesting since many people feel that the Bible is all about a set of legalistic rules that hurt our freedom.
Our family's new attempt at making godly decisions is to use Phil. 4:8. Limiting ourselves to things that are pure, noble, true, righteous, praiseworthy....is very, well, limiting. Really it doesn't feel like freedom. It feels like rules. But as I have been teaching this to the boys I have realized that it is freedom. It is freedom from filling your mind with ugly, dangerous, scary, or wasteful things that in the long run only hurt you, or at least are a waste of your time. God's rules don't limit our freedoms. In the true sense of the word, they free us from the consequences of sin.
The freedom found in the holy presence of the Lord is freedom from the corruption of this world. It is freedom from the sin that so easily catches us which is produced by our own evil desires. In a way it is freedom from our sin affected selves. It is freedom that is offered to everyone at the same time. Freedom that doesn't hurt anyone.
Now that's a freedom to really celebrate.
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"Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored His name." Malachi 3:16
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3 comments:
oops, I actually didn't mean to delete that comment. Anyway, I agree.
How fitting.. everything I am hearing lately seems to be on this subject. Im sure it has everything to do with the fact that I am reading "Safely Home" by Randy Alcorn. Have you heard of it? A Chrisitian Fiction Novel based on events of the persecuted church in China. It is amazing. I long to have the faith of those believers, however thiers is a product of REAL persecution as a result of having thier freedoms taken away. Our freedom as American Christians has made is wonderful, but so often not used to its fullest potential. Anyway, great post! I am right there with you.
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