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| top A journal of commentary, narrative and poetry about navigating through life the flame
Freedom
to Love
What is true freedom? Can exercising my personal freedom,
i.e., taking my liberty, result in bondage? How can I know when my "freedom"
has led to enslavement?
Today I read from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians
and was deeply moved by his exhortation on freedom. Maybe "moved" is not the correct verb;
"taken aback" might be more accurate. The gist of his message, I noted with
some concern, is empirically authenticated in my own life. I have seen the fruit that is produced from following the leading of the spirit in
love or following after selfish desire. If you have more than once followed
after your own desire to gain fulfillment, to feed an appetite
or to protect your own interests -- only to find your life progressively
falling into bondage and chaos -- then take a deep breath and read what Paul
has to say*:
How Freedom Grows
"It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life.
Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever
you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve
one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about
God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love
yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other,
watch out--in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where
will your precious freedom be then?"
How Freedom Goes
"My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by
God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there
is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit,
just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of
life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times
another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose
to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a
law-dominated existence? It is obvious what kind of life develops out of
trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a
stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless
grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness;
cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal
temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives;
small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing
everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly
parodies of community. I could go on.
This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you
use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom."
Fruit in the Orchard
But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into
our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard--things like
affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a
willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a
conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find
ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in
life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in
the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting
our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls
necessities is killed off for good--crucified.
Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the
Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads
or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail
of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if
one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things
to do with our lives. Each of us is an original."
There is not much I can add to this except an experiential
note: the only way to realize this work in my life is to give up my
own self interest and yield to the leading of God's word and spirit as I
see it manifest in Jesus Christ. But be prepared for a tale of two cities,
the best of times and the worst of times, the season of light and the season
of darkness, the agony and the ecstasy --
because we do not easily give up our penchant to strive for self interest. But the
freedom to experience and show
forth the love of God is worth any price.
*Scripture excerpted
from the Message Bible, Galatians 5:13-26; paragraph headers are my own
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