Living in a country where I have the privilege to experience many freedoms each day, it is easy to take it for granted. I’m sure I speak for most Americans when I say this. I believe this is due to the lack of understanding what true freedom is.
We’ve been taught what freedom is not by comparing how we live to what third world countries endure. But this does not necessarily give us a clear definition of what freedom is. Each person most likely has a different idea of what freedom is, based on what they have or have not experienced in their life. To some, freedom may simply mean having the choice to live how they want. Even this understanding of freedom is weak and incomplete. Is freedom only about what you and I want? Or is it more? What is freedom?
What is Freedom?
Freedom is the state of not being under constraint or control of anything or anyone. Before we get any further in this article, I want to clarify that the idea of freedom did not come from man. Freedom is God’s design. The American founding fathers were not the authors of freedom. They simply took the idea from God and fought to build a nation on this idea, as best they could in a fallen world.
Let me be clear about another false idea of freedom. Freedom is not the absence of authority or the law. Freedom requires the right boundaries to be set in order to allow good to thrive and prosper. When there are no laws and no authorities (known as anarchy), there is also no freedom. People may be free to do what they want in this kind of society, but this breeds the control of our desires that would enslave us because of not having the necessary and good boundaries to protect us from ourselves. Freedom cannot be built without laws and authorities to protect it.
True Freedom
If you are a follower of Christ, you understand that true freedom is only found in Jesus. Galatians 5:1 tells us: “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Jesus came down to earth as a man and died on the cross to set us free from our sins—to save us from ourselves. On the third day, God raised Him to life again, defeating death so that we also can be set free from death.
Sin and death were not in God’s design for us. He hated sin and death so much that God Himself came down to earth to bear all our sin to set us free. Freedom is God’s design. And He made a way for us to get back on the track of freedom. But it is only through His one and only Son. We cannot create or earn our own freedom.
In Jesus
Even with the founding of the United States of America and the many freedoms Americans enjoy today, it is nothing compared to the true freedom found in Jesus Christ. In this fallen and broken world, freedoms will come and go. This is because mankind is so easily drawn to our desires. And these desires enslave us. There is only one way to have lasting and true freedom. It is in and through Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the Creator of all things. He alone knows how everything works together in peace, harmony, and freedom because He made it all. Look at Colossians 1:15-20:
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”
Everything Set Right
True freedom is when everything is set right by Christ; when we can live the way we were designed to live. Mankind cannot save the world. Mankind does not know what’s best for humanity. We need Jesus. He alone knows what’s best for us because He uniquely designed each one of us in His image. When we surrender our desires to Jesus, allowing Him to give us new desires, then we experience true freedom.
Therefore, freedom is not about you or me getting our way. It’s about all of creation being set right with our Creator, desiring the same things as He does. Jesus made that possible through His sacrifice on the cross. He paid the price for all our sins (the sins that took away our freedom). And God the Father raised Jesus to life again so that we could also live beyond our death and experience freedom with our Creator forever. He also sent us His Spirit to point us to Jesus and help us choose freedom in Christ over slavery to sin.
How about you? Do you know the freedom found in Jesus Christ? If not, please do not hesitate to reach out at
westonaknudtson.com/contact.
I’d love to talk to you about who Jesus is and what He’s done for you. He loves you and wants to have a personal relationship with you.
