Musings08/24/10, Responsible Freedom by John.

Responsible Freedom

I had two surprises one Sunday morning recently. The first came as an unsigned e-mail. By the address I knew it was from a minister, or perhaps his wife, whom I have not seen in years. It contained pictures of our service men scarred and bleeding, some being buried and some risking their lives to care for both the wounded and dead.

I was aware when I volunteered for Naval service toward the close of WW II that I could be lost at sea because of torpedo or Kamikaze attacks, but I felt it was every American's duty. That included me, and now that I'm an Octogenarian, I am still willing to do whatever is necessary for my country.

The second surprise came when our present pastor delivered a sermon on "Freedom." I think another part of the title may have been "What is it?" Freedom is something that comes with a very expensive price tag. Jesus paid the price for ours. The pastor pointed out that there are many concepts of freedom. One is anarchy, and that may have been what happened in the Bible when it said, "Every man did what was right in his own eyes. I'm interested just in one kind of freedom. I'm not concerned with the freedom we enjoy as Americans. We may keep it, or lose it depending on how our country relates to Jesus' message.

Our acceptance of Jesus' gift of eternal life can be quickly and permanently made, but our living as a child of God certainly takes a lifetime to accomplish. We always have doubts. They may be hidden, and we may deny them, but they are there. Let's think of the different freedoms God gives us.

First, He made us free agents on this earth. That means that when He encourages us to accept His rule over our lives, we are free to refuse to have anything to do with Him. It is certainly true that His will is for us to take the direct road to life eternal, but we are free to travel the broad road leading in any other direction. Scads of people have done that and are doing it today. He warned us ahead of time that the end of such rebellion is death eternal instead of life eternal, but the choice is ours, and we are free to choose eternal death. It is the negative part of our choice. Someone said, "If you aren't going to go with God, then you better do all you can now because when you die, all your opportunities die with you, but if you choose to live this life with God, your opportunities constantly increase for all eternity."

I believe Paul writing in Romans gives the best picture of what this life is all about. Romans 4: 25 says, "He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification." 5:1,2 says, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." Jesus died for each of us so that we could experience the grace of God in forgiveness for all of our sins, and to give us eternal life. Paul spoke of our salvation as both past and present. We don't wait for judgment. We passed through that when we accepted Christ's sacrificial death for ourselves. Ephesians 2;8,9 says, "For by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast." Our slate is clear, not because of anything we have done, but because Jesus made peace with God for us on the cross. Our future is also sure because the hope spoken of in the quoted passage is not even related to chance. Heaven is a reality for Christians. Jesus told us in John 14: 1,2 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."

All of God's promises have depended on faith and cooperation by the recipient. We are now free in Christ, but our freedom does have responsibilities. We are responsible for extending to others the same freedom we have. We should expect others to relate to God as we do. If they don't, we are responsible for helping them respond. We should not consider ourselves in the position to judge anyone Christian or lost. Romans 2:1 says, "You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things." Our judging others not only disobeys God, it puts a tool in the hand of Satan to drive people farther away from God and to make them refuse any help from us. If we aren't close to those in need, it is much harder to help!

Extremists keep our world in a mess. That's an observation, not a judgment I trust. War seems to be, and perhaps always has been the main event of every age. We may take part in our country's protection, but our hope goes beyond physical conflict. Reading the Old Testament, it seems the Israelites were constantly at war, but God always gave them hope for the future, and we Christians have that same hope. It's more solid now than it was in those ancient days. In fact, our freedom from worry lies in our hope for the future. We trust God to carry out His promises. He has already done so much! And His promises are facts as far as we Christians are concerned. We simply wait for them to be completely fulfilled. Some already are. We already have the promised Savior Who made us free from the laws of sin and death. He's already freed us to live successfully in this world. I'm not talking about the accumulation of wealth. I'm talking about the joy that comes from knowing and serving our living God! He's already freed us to help those who have not received the same blessings we enjoy, and to help each other as well.

Everyone who has freedom prizes it. When the Bible tells us Christians have life more abundant than they had before they met God, it tells me that I can enjoy freedom far more than anyone who doesn't know God. It's not something I need to prove. If you haven't discovered it for yourself, then begin seeking God and you will learn what real responsible freedom is all about.