A Year of Choices…
By Barbara Dahlgren from Barbara’s Banter at www.barbdahlgren.com
As Independence Day fast approaches we all anticipate parades, picnics, and fireworks. This annual holiday, sometimes referred to as the Fourth of July, is synonymous with celebration. And why not celebrate? After all, when the United States declared independence from Britain it became the land of the free. However, the founding fathers knew this new found freedom should not give license for people to just run rampant or we would be in a bigger mess than we were before. In other words, freedom must be used wisely.
Freedom should not be used to deliberately hurt others. We don’t want to give people the freedom to abuse others, commit murder, steal, or rape. We don’t want pedophiles touching our children. We don’t want public school teachers feeling free to teach every new age theory that comes along. We hate getting speeding tickets, but we sort of like having those speed limits, traffic lights, and stop signs. We trust ourselves not to misuse our freedom, but we aren’t so sure about the other guy!
New found freedom can be a heady experience. I often think of new college students. Some have not learned how to handle freedom by the time they move far away from home for the first time. Without mom and dad’s watchful eye they sometimes consume massive amounts of alcohol and focus on partying instead of education. They become prey to credit card companies eager to issue them new credit cards so they can charge, charge, charge their lives away! It takes a while for them to learn that they are only hurting themselves. The smart ones eventually decide to use their freedom wisely.
The Bible refers to Christians having freedom in Christ. Paul speaks of this freedom by admonishing the Galatians to “stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free…” (Galatians 5) God no longer wants us to adhere to a long list of requirements to draw close to him. There is no need for circumcision or being slaves to ordinances, sacrifices, and rituals. Righteousness is no longer measured by a list of dos and don’ts. A list like that provided a certain comfort level because just following it made one feel assured of pleasing God. And one never had to think about what was right or wrong – just look at the list. That was the old covenant – a physical approach to a physical law.
The new covenant is a spiritual approach. We have access to God directly. There is no need to jump through hoops to get his attention. He walks with us and talks with us. However, even though Paul reminds us to stand fast in this new found freedom, we are cautioned to use this new found freedom wisely – the way God intended. We are told not to pursue works of the flesh such as “adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, heresies, murders, drunkenness, etc…” Rather we are encouraged to walk in the spirit of “joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,” and so on.
Consider this… Freedom in Christ does not give one license to do evil, just like freedom in America does not give one license to do harm. If anything, we should be filled with a sense of responsibility to use all our freedoms for the good of everyone.
Suggestions for practicing this choice…
- Pray for God to bless America and thank him for the blessings he has bestowed on her that we take for granted: freedom to gather together, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, etc. Sometimes we just don’t appreciate the freedoms we have. I remember a story about a father telling his son that every person living in the United States is a privileged person. The son said, “I disagree.” The father said, “That is your privilege – because you live in this country.”
- Here are some things we can do to show we are thankful: be good citizens, obey the law, vote, be patriotic, etc. Try to sing the national anthem. I say “try” because the key is so high most of us have to sing falsetto, but it’s our national anthem so let’s sing it anyway!
- Stop looking for our country to make you happy. You are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We want others to make us happy. It ain’t gonna happen!
- Don’t abuse your freedom in Christ by wanting the benefits without making the commitment to follow him. In other words to experience the freedom in Christ we need to be dependent on him.
- Celebrate! You have freedom in America! You have freedom in Christ!
