When I was an adolescent, and sometimes into my twenties, I
was impatient for the freedom to be my own boss ---- to find the
"real" me and freely pursue my own dreams. I thought
that real freedom was to have no restraints or restrictions ---- to be able to
do whatever I wanted. Now, I wonder about the notion of
"freedom." Many years later, I am not so sure that total
freedom is a worthwhile goal!
I have come to understand that when people say they need to
be "free" to do what they really want, they may be naive about how
the human heart works. People have a lot of wants, and those wants often
contradict each other. For example, on the one hand people say they want
to eat anything they feel like eating, and freedom of access to eat as much of
it as their stomach will hold. On the other hand, they want to have good
health. So, what is freedom? They have to decide which one of those
wants is the liberating one, and which one will bring them trouble. And
right away they have started to alter their "freedom" model.
They have started to realize that freedom can't just be a lack of restrictions,
but finding the right restrictions.
Another issue for those desiring "freedom," involves
the complexity of motivation. What is it that drives, or motivates
people? There are hundreds of choices we must make every day, and usually
they are between good options. Why do we choose the ones we do?
Every person has some objective they hold up above all others ---- what the
Bible sometimes calls an "idle." We believe that if we could
just attain that "one thing" (perhaps it's money or status) we would
find freedom. I know now there is a trap here ---- unless that "one
thing" is God, the object of my pursuit ends up controlling me, and I
actually will lose some of my freedom.
A third aspect of simply seeking freedom is what we could
call "the fabric of reality." Reality is like a fabric.
There is a pattern, a given design to reality that must be honored or the
fabric tears or unravels. A classic illustration is the fish. A
fish has two features that make it perfect in water ---- gills that absorb
oxygen from the water, not the air. Secondly, fins that move through water,
but do not work on land. The fish must honor its given design. It
is designed for water, not for land. That is a restriction on its
freedom. If the fish is in the wrong environment, it is not able to honor
the way it fits into the fabric of things, and it dies. If it does honor
its given design it is free to do all it was designed to do.
Sometimes we see human beings, in the exercise of their
"freedom," tearing the fabric of their lives by the use of drugs,
alcohol or other fabric-tearing choices which their freedom makes available to
them.
What are human beings designed to do? The clue may be
to look at how human love works. John Stott put it this way:
"True freedom is to be one's true self, but my true self is made for
loving, and loving is self-giving. So, in order to be myself, I
have to deny myself and give of myself. In order to be free, I
have to give up my freedom. In order to live, I have to die to my
self-centeredness. In order to find myself, I have to lose my
freedom."
This brings me to the conclusion that real freedom is not
in doing what we most want to do. Real freedom is choosing among the
things we most want to do. It is linked with what we were designed
for. Real freedom is in finding the right restrictions for each of
us. Jesus actually urged us to give up some of our most fundamental freedoms of
choice. The reward is to obtain an even more profound freedom.
Isn't that why Jesus says:
----- "If you hold to my teaching . . . you will
know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
(John 8:31 - 32)
----- "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever
loses his life for my sake will find it."
(Matthew 10:39)
----- "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart,
and you will
find rest for your soul. For my yoke is easy and my burden
is light."
(Matthew 11:28 - 30)
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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult
Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal
spiritual growth this spring at CPC.
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