Responsible freedom

Freedom is a virtue that we yearn for, and every progressive society takes great pride in upholding it. However, freedom can be abused.

Paul, a 1st-c. philosopher, captured this struggle. He said, 'I do that which I don't want to do, and I end up doing that which I ought not to do' - the error of commission and an error of omission. He was so frustrated with that conflict that he cried out in desperation, 'Who will save me?'

Charles Wesley's lines set to music capture a freedom that is born in the unlikeliest of places: an ancient Roman prison cell:


Long my imprisoned spirit lay,

Fast bound in sin and nature's night;

Thine eye diffused a quick'ning ray,

I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free,

I rose, went forth and followed Thee.

Paul found the answer to his personal soul-searching in the work of Christ. He illustrated the mechanics of two laws at work in a follower of Christ - a law that pulls us down and a law that lifts us up.

At an airport, the law of gravity keeps an aircraft grounded. After the go-ahead is received, the plane taxis onto the runway and, in a few moments, takes off. While the law of gravity is still at work, a higher principle of Bernoulli pushes it into the sky. God transforms us from the trappings of our weak and sinful nature into noble people who exercise freedom with responsibility.