What kind of freedom are we talking about

“those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For the world in its present form is passing away.” 1 Corinthians 7:31 NIV

There is a country song called “What type of gone are we talking about?” The lyrics include “well there is gone for good and there is gone with a long in front of it. Is it a whiskey night or just a couple beers? I mean what type of gone are we talkin about here?” I found myself thinking about that song last night.

It was July 4th and my wife and I took our son and his best friend to see a fireworks display. As we were sitting there, I thought about my brother. He is a veteran, and like many other veterans just does not want to be around the explosions we use when celebrating the freedom they fought for. When our friend Tim was alive, I remember one year our daughters asked him to come over. My kids like to blow up stuff. He knew what he was walking into but tried for them. They were in full celebration mode, and I remember the look on his face. He loved them, but he had to go.

This had me thinking about freedom as I was watching fireworks last night. We like to be free. We think we are in many ways. But our freedom has limits. I know some people who have money and the freedom it can provide, but some of them are confined by the fear of losing it. I also know people who have less money and are confined by the effort to arrive at the mythical place of freedom they assume other people have.

I have a nephew in prison. Physically he is confined 24 hours a day and I have talked to him about moments where those walls have closed in. There are times he feels less than human there. You can argue he earned his way there and he admits that. But that does not help him cope with the time. He has moments he feels more free there, but confinement is a large opponent. You do not have to be inside a prison to be confined.

We live in the greatest country on earth. In spite of our problems, I believe that. But even within our borders freedom varies in its reach. Not everyone is welcome everywhere. I am aware that I come and go in my daily life without much fear of someone harming me. But my wife and daughter have to think about where they walk at night to protect themselves.

Most of us actually earn more money than the vast majority of people on earth. We can live literally anywhere we choose. We have jobs that can be worked remotely literally never having to report to a central location. It really is amazing. We have free speech, freedom of religion and the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

However, every one of those perceived freedoms has a limit. When our freedom runs out of money or runs into another person, we run back into the confinement we have worked hard to avoid. Even if we are functioning at a high level we end up running into our own mortality. I sat in a car for twelve hours today and my knees are killing me, from sitting. I have come to grips with a diminished physical self while I think I am as clear thinking as I have ever been. But ironically my family history points to a possible end of that clear thought, confinement inside my own head.

My point is this, we can be tricked into the pursuit of a freedom that is measured here. There is nothing wrong with that pursuit or in being successful at finding it. But we need to be careful not to let that pursuit cloud the only freedom of choice that actually matters, grace through Jesus Christ. Through Him I can have peace in the middle of struggle. I can have eternal peace inside of me even though here I have limitation after limitation.

As believers we have eternal freedom without limits. We have a promise from the Creator of time. We have the freedom from our own inability to earn that promise because we have a Savior who paid that bill for us. We have the freedom to share that grace with others. Do we?

I think faith has become too twisted into politics or the pursuit of things or issues here.

How many items on my to do list center around things with zero eternal value?

Challenge: What kind of freedom do we talk about here? Help others find the freedom of grace. Live in this world without being bound to it.

Rick Claiborn