Celebrating Freedom

It's the 4th of July, America's "Independence Day". It's a big deal for us. Technically, it is a celebration of the anniversary of when we gained independence from Great Britain, but we see it as a celebration of freedom in general these days. (Most of us aren't old enough to remember what it was like under Great Britain's rule. Most of us.)

America really is the home of the free. I mean, sure, there are constraints as any society must have, but we have much fewer than so many. Many Americans complain about America, and I'm not suggesting in the least that our country is remotely perfect, but oddly enough it is our freedom, defended at the point of arms, that allows people to complain about America. There are those that try to impinge on our freedom and there are times that we surrender freedoms, but, all in all, this is a good country with more liberty than most.

I often have difficulty, though, with our concept of "freedom". We call it "freedom" when there is an absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action. In other words, we call it "freedom" when we can do whatever we please and no one tells us otherwise. Now, from a biblical perspective, I get all tied up with that kind of definition. We would call it "freedom", for instance, if we were free to become addicted to drugs. Wait ... isn't that kind of contradictory? On the basis of our constitutional right to the freedom of speech, people all around are becoming addicted to pornography. Isn't there some contradiction in "freedom" that gives us addiction? Biblically, Natural Man is called a "slave of sin". Just how free is that? If the Bible claims that no one does good and Natural Man cannot respond to spiritual things, just how free are we?

I would define freedom in a different way. Lord Acton is attributed with the quote, "Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought." Okay, maybe. But I wouldn't put it that way. I would say that true liberty is the ability to do what is best. First, then, what is best is what God says we ought to do, so I'm not thoroughly disagreeing with the famous quote -- just refining it. Second, if what God says we ought to do is what is best, the Bible is clear that Natural Man lacks that ability. It is only those who are a new creature in Christ that have God at work in them giving them both the ability and desire to do what pleases Him.

Coming full circle, then, it's the 4th of July, sure, but this 4th of July falls on a Sunday. Sunday is the day we gather in honor of the Resurrection of Christ. That Resurrection is what enabled all who believe to have the capacity to do what is best. So, as it turns out, Sunday is a day that we celebrate genuine freedom. Freedom in Christ. Freedom from sin. Freedom to do good. Yes, it's a good day to celebrate freedom.