True freedom

As Rick Warren says in his book, The Purpose Driven Life, it’s not about me. What I do or don’t do is first about obeying God and second about loving other people.

I’ve heard people say they would never become a Christian because it is too restricting; you can’t do this and you can’t do that. They are right in one sense, but miss it by thinking those restrictions are uncomfortable and binding. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”

True freedom is being out from under the power of sin and the tyranny of always having to have my own way. I’m free from the power of my ‘I wants’ so they no longer control me.

Yet the fact is, no one is free in the sense that they are without a master. The freedom nonbelievers talk about is being able to do whatever they want whenever they want. That is not freedom but being in slavery to their whims.

The freedoms Christians have are subject to a Master as well, and some restrictions, but they are not what most people think. In Romans 14, Paul wrote about the “rules” governing food sacrificed to idols. Some were insisting that this meat was unclean and forbidden. Others said not so, in Christ we are free to eat whatever we want.

Paul said, “As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died.”

We are restricted by a rule—the rule of love. If something is going to harm the faith or life of another person, this rule says don’t do it. It doesn’t matter if that thing is harmless to me. It’s not about me.

Paul goes on, “Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men. Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food.”

Christian restrictions are not to crimp my style, but are for the sake of God and the conscience of others. Such ‘rules’ are a far cry from a supposed ‘freedom’ that lets me do anything I feel like doing, including sin, without any regard of who it might hurt, including myself.

I’ve lived in both worlds, the one where I was ‘free’ to do what I want, and the one where it is not about me. There is no comparison. What I thought was freedom was a lie. Jesus was right—and because of Him, I am truly free.