I Want Freedom!!!

"I can do what I want…It's a free country! You're not the boss of me!!!" You might hear this from a rebellious 6 year old. I remember having a similar attitude towards baby sitters who attempted to enforce my parent's rules. It is indeed a free country. Every year thousands of people risk their lives to come here in order to live in freedom all while hundreds of thousands of others risk their lives so that we can enjoy that freedom. What is it about freedom that is so attractive? For some it means hope of something more; for others, a new beginning.

Today I want to focus on those that are here and enjoy this readily available freedom daily. We have the freedom to speak what is on our mind, the freedom to go where we please, and the freedom to enjoy most of what this world has to offer. Not all freedom, however, is good. We also have freedom from integrity. Integrity is defined as firm adherence to a moral code. And in this day it is sometimes cool and completely acceptable not to practice it. After all "firm adherence" to anything doesn't sound very freeing. Oh, but that is the genius of this life.

The wisest man ever to live once said "there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death". What?! The way that seems right leads to death?! So how do you know if you are going the right way, or on the right path, or even doing the right things? "Firm adherence to a moral code", but what moral code? Another wise man said the heart is wicked and deceitful. This is pretty discouraging considering that I have always been told to trust my heart.

I love to share Christ with others. Often the response I get from non-Christians is "I believe in God, and I am a good person." To which I respond, "what does it mean to be good?" And without fail, I will hear a short list of sins that person doesn't commit (or thinks they don't commit). "well, I don't murder or steal". Does the God that you believe in grade on the curve? How good is good enough and where does this idea that God just wants us to be good come from? It is nowhere in the Bible, but most don't know that.

My conversion started, like most conversions do, with me realizing I wasn't good. In fact, my heart is wicked and deceitful. I had spent my life following ways that seemed right and there was rarely life there in the end. In fact my conversion consisted of me realizing how truly self-destructive I actually was.

Now, today, it is not 6-year-olds I hear screaming "I can do what I want…it's a free country!!!". It is grown men and women like me. It is college graduates, and successful business men. It's those who sleep with their girlfriends because they can. It is married men who go after their secretaries, because after all, they have the freedom to do so. Its women who spend freely without thinking, enjoying the illusion of financial freedom that credit (or daddy) presents. It is those who "binge" on porn because it is their personal right to do so. And those who experiment with drugs, or those who consistently express their freedom by drinking too much. I am guilty of most of these. Oh to be free…to have to answer to no one. To have a "firm adherence" to nothing but self desire, often putting aside the feelings of others…What do they matter any way?

As I write this it seems wicked. Who would be so self-centered? Who would seek their own desires and put everyoneelse's feelings aside? I am confident it doesn't happen over night. No, maybe it starts when we are six as we talk back to our baby-sitter. Maybe later, as we consistently choose self-seeking ways and get addicted to the short pleasures that we are rewarded for doing so. When did we stop doing what was right? Often the most wicked people have no idea of their wicked ways. They are delusional often stating they are good and banking on their God to grade on a huge curve. Hoping they will be graded against Hitler, Saddam Hussein, and others alike, so they will have a red carpet into heaven.

But the bible tells us there is one way. It is to acknowledge Christ as LORD. LORD is defined by one having power and authority over others. So, what does it mean to submit to Christ as LORD? Could it be "firm adherence" to His teachings? I definitely think that is a part of it. Carrie Underwood put it well with her song "Jesus Take the Wheel". Why would I ever drive when I can let the LORD of the universe in the driver's seat? Today I do not offer you freedom. No, today offered is complete submission to your perfect maker. There will be freedom that comes with this…much more than you've experienced before, but it is no doubt a step of faith. It requires you to trust in the One that died for you to have ultimate freedom offered by your perfect Father…Eternal life.