The only real freedom

No one wants to be a slave, yet some people often feel as if they are slaves to their job, or their family, or to various passions and appetites. Many talk about freedom in terms of not being under the thumb of anyone and able to do whatever they want without restrictions or rules over-riding our desires.

Is that freedom? If one of my desires is to eat as much chocolate cake as I want, or drive as fast as I want, or play computer games all day, rationale tells me that is not really freedom and more like bondage.

I’m convinced that defining freedom does not mean doing what I want no matter what. Those I-wants have consequences, mostly unwanted. Besides, the Word of God tells me that no matter what, I’m a slave to something or someone . . .

Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. (Romans 6:13–18)

It seems that being a slave to God and to righteousness is the better choice than being a slave to sin, but that is not as easy as it sounds. For instance, even ‘religious’ people can find a way to call themselves righteous and hold their head high yet are in bondage to the sin of pride.

Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” (John 8:31–33)

Jesus answered them in much the same words as the above passage from Romans. He said that anyone who practices sin is a slave to it. Their sin at that time was in their plot to kill Him because He was telling them the truth; they were sinners with a self-righteous pride that kept them from admitting it was true.

The truth is in Christ. When He speaks to our hearts, we are to respond in obedience, not think we don’t need Him and push Him away. Tozer’s story of a boy who memorized Jesus’ entire Sermon on the Mount illustrates this well. This child quickly and easily learned that passage of the Bible. When asked how he did it, he said, “I would memorize a verse and then trust God to help me put it into practice. Then I would memorize the next verse and say, ‘Lord, help me to live this one, too.’”

That was the problem of those Jews who challenged Jesus claiming they were not slaves. They had a long history of hearing from God but not obeying Him. For generations they know what God wanted but prided themselves in being His chosen people. They did their own thing, thinking they were righteous but without obedience.

I can relate to this this ‘knowing but not doing’ — as most people can. One pastor called this the ‘obedience gap.’ Yet there is good news. Our ‘doing’ does not make us righteous anyway. The Gospel clearly says faith in Christ is counted as righteousness. Righteousness is a gift and it is in Jesus Christ.

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption . . .  (1 Corinthians 1:30)

Why do good then? It is not to earn ‘brownie points’ with God but to live out what God has put in. When I do His will, I am demonstrating the power of God that sets me free from bondage to sin. Besides the glory given to God, obedience makes me happy. “If you know these things, blessed (happy) are you if you do them.” (John 13:17) Isn’t that the freedom I really want?

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Jesus, grant me today the grace to put what I know into practice, living out what You have given to me. And I thank You for the blessings You give as the result of doing Your will but more importantly, Your blessings are the only reason I’m able to obey You in the first place.