As we approach Memorial Day weekend we will be reminded over and over that freedoms we enjoy are not free at all. In fact, there is nothing on earth that is free. Heaven might be different but here on earth freedom costs in one way or another. Freedoms are both corporate and individual. You find them in the church and outside the church. Someone else's freedom might not agree with your freedom. Sometimes we cannot see the outward manifestation of freedom. Sometimes that same freedom is right in front of our eyes and we still can't see it. Conversely, we (by action and inaction) take away the freedoms others have in their lives. Occasionally we have our freedoms taken away or impinged upon by those around us, our government or the world we live in. What is freedom to you and why is it important? How much does your need for "freedom" actually enslave you rather than set you free? How much did your freedom cost? That's what Memorial Day and the work of Christ on the cross are all about. YOU were bought with a price.
Paul exhorts us to be careful exercising our freedoms as they may cause others to stumble. He suggests that we actually give up a freedom if that exercised freedom causes someone to stumble or to not engage Christ in their lives. The first century church was the freedom from the enslaved religious so many sought. Once free, there were many who flaunted their freedom. That's not what Christ set us free to do. Christ set us free to be slaves to the Gospel. This is Paul's take on it. Paul said that he "became all things to all people." That's what Christ is to us and we should be to our world. Let's not be so intent on taking away the splinter in someone else's eye without taking out the log in our own eyes first. While we have the freedom to drink alcohol, we don't have the freedom to case another to stumble. While we have the freedom to express our relationship with Christ to others, we don't have the freedom to demand that their religious expressions be the same as ours. The freedom we seek must be the freedom we give.
Freedom personally messes with my mind. I have so much freedom in America and yet find myself enslaved to so much. There are people whom I have talked with that explain to me their freedom to worship but being enslaved by their church's expectations. I have the freedom to express my faith in God but am enslaved by the laws prohibiting such expression of faith. Enslaved by the "let's not offend" majority, the world is enslaved by each other. While I have the freedom to write this blog there is also the responsibility to make sure that I'm basing all I write on what the Bible says. My interpretations are not always spot on. Yet, I have the freedom to make mistakes because Christ gave up his freedom to take my death upon himself. Christ enslaved himself to my sin so that I could be saved. My freedom from death and hell was paid with a price. God gives us the freedom to choose and in our choices we are either set free for eternity in Heaven or set free for eternity in Hell. Both choices we are free to make.
Our choices of having the freedom we have is in itself necessary for our continued existence as an individual, family, group, nation and world. When someone is enslaved by religion they are not free to have a relationship. Relationships controlled or demanded are not relationships of freedom at all. Try as you and I might, we are caught in the daily quandary of what to do with the freedom we discover we have. We have the freedoms that so many in the world will never be able to fathom or engage. Where we have the freedom to work; many choose not to do so. Where we have the freedom to stand up and take a stand many choose not to do so. Where we have the freedom to vote and participate in our world many choose not to do so. Why is it we live in the greatest country in the world and yet we refuse to exercise our freedom? When the Christian does this the message to the world around him or her is that we really aren't set free by Christ. We may have salvation but we are still slaves to our sin. What freedom have your experienced that needs to be engaged again?
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