Human rights are constantly being oppressed. The government seems to continually be devising new ways to chip away at our freedoms. Business owners are slowly being strangled out of existence due to arbitrary and capricious laws. Our leaders are out of touch with the common man and have enacted orders that have stifled our pursuit of happiness. WE NEED FREEDOM! Can you concur with these thoughts? Has this thinking entered your mind recently?
These statements may reflect our current situation today, but this is most certainly the line of thinking that was on the mind of our founding fathers in 1776 which led them to draft the Declaration of Independence. These brave men stood up to the tyranny of their day declaring that all mankind should have the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. In doing so, they were not only declaring our desires as a fledgling nation, but they were also stating a universal truth about mankind. Namely, that we all have a need to be free from our bondage.
Their declaration also stated something about the very nature of freedom. Freedom’s essence is not just about being free FROM something, it is about being free FOR something. In the case of declaring freedom from England’s rule, the American people wanted to be free to pursue “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. However, this principle of freedom is also true in the spiritual realm. The Bible tells us that mankind is not free. We are born into the bondage of sin. We are servants to it. It enslaves each one of us and we do not have the power to gain our freedom from it’s death grip on our lives.
Romans 6:23 tells us that “the wages of sin is death”, which implies that this slavery of sin in our lives is literally buying us a one way ticket to eternal punishment in hell. It is a hopeless case. Sin’s destruction in our lives will only be completed when we die. “He that is dead is freed from sin.” (Romans 6:7) So, even more than we need freedom to pursue happiness, we need freedom from our sin. And ALL freedom comes with a price.
Just as the freedom that was gained for our nation was paid for in blood, the freedom that was gained for us sinners was paid in blood as well. In the sinner’s case, it was the blood of Jesus Christ who died on the cross. He paid the price to redeem us and give us freedom from the power and penalty of sin. We simply need to repent of our sin, trust in Jesus’ Christ’s payment on our behalf, and we can be born again by faith. If you have never trusted in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, please contact me and I’d be happy to share with you how you can have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
But Jesus didn’t pay the price for our freedom, just so that we could be free to pursue that which would make us happy. Remember the principle stated above? While Jesus makes us free from sin, we are set free FOR some purpose as well. Romans 6:18 tells us, “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” In other words, we have been given freedom from sin so that we might pursue the righteousness of God in our lives. Unfortunately, many who profess Christ as their Savior, having been set free from the power and penalty of sin, have continued as sin’s servant. It is a sad fact that the average Christian’s life often doesn’t reflect the freedom that he has been given. That’s why Paul says, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Romans 6:16)
Are you living according to the freedom you have been given? We each need freedom… the freedom to pursue those things that will honor God with our lives. How are you using the freedom you have been given? “Now being made free from sin… become servants to God” (Romans 6:22)