Freedom of the Soul

“But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Galatians 6:14

The winds of freedom blow hard in our world today. Politically oppressed, communist bloc countries demolish imprisoning walls and topple the icons of brutal dictators. Countries are dropping the shackles of ideologies that have padlocked individual freedom for the sake of state control.

Yet even when freedom is achieved, the once gold promises of liberty are tainted by painful new realities. Democracy is not a panacea. New leaders are not messiahs. The gains of social crusades are often short-lived. In each case, freedom is defined as that which allows a nation, a group, or a person, the right to pursue and obtain their own goals. It involves the removal of external barriers to self-fulfillment.

But true freedom is spiritual, within man’s heart. It is the removal of the universal oppressor - sin - whose great infection lies in the bosom of every man and woman. It cannot be earned or legislated but received only as a gift from God.

God’s freedom, liberation of the soul from sin’s tyranny, can be enjoyed behind barbed-wire walls, within prison camps, or in the midst of injustice. It cannot be stifled, regulated, or imprisoned. That is freedom worth pursuing.

“...everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.’” John 8:34