^{He made it so that you could take part in the inheritance, in light granted to God’s holy People.  He rescued us from the control of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves.  He set us free through the Son and forgave our sins!  Because the fullness of God was pleased to live in Him and He reconciled all things to Himself through Him – whether things on earth or in the heavens.  He brought peace through the blood of His cross.  Once you were alienated fro God and you were enemies with Him in your minds, which was shown by your evil actions.  But now, He has reconciled you by His physical body through death, to present you before God as a people who are holy, faultless, and without blame. ….. Colossians 1 (various verses)}

When I was a child, I was free!  Now, I didn’t realize it.  In fact, I thought, to varying degrees at various times, that I was bound – bound by the lifestyle of my family; bound by the rules of my family; bound by the limitations of Bainbridge, Georgia which didn’t even have a theater for much of my teen years.  But now I know that this was one of the freest times of my life.  In my parent’s home, living by my parent’s rules, I was free from major responsibility.  I was free from harm and under their protection.  I was free from laboring and searching for my survival under their provision.  I was free from having to decide what was right and wrong and how to live under their pronouncements.  O to be that free again!

In this wild and crazy world called Modernity (or Post-modernity, as the case may be), many suffer from a complete lack of freedom.  Having cast off the restraints of their childhood, people seem to live with wreckless abandon, driven by nothing more than their selfish desires.  They claim to be free – free from parental control and influence, free from church dogma and dictates, free from cultural expectations, etc.  But they’re not really free.  What many see as proof of their freedom is often the very thing that enslaves them.  For example: I was told by an addict once: “I’m free to do whatever I want.  I can stop any time I want; I just don’t want to stop.”  Really?  A few weeks later, when he tried to stop, he discovered just how much control he was under and just how little freedom he had.

In Galatians 5:1, Paul wrote: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.”  Jesus Himself said: “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”  Why, then, do many “Christians” continue living as if they are still bound?  Many times, we accept for ourselves the label “Christian,” but we do not accept the freedom that comes with knowing Christ or else we totally misunderstand it.  You see, Christian freedom isn’t living in wreckless abandon in relation to God’s Holy Word.  Christian freedom is living under the Pronouncements, the Provision, and the Protection of God.  Christian freedom is living in God’s House by God’s rules.  And that takes discipline, not church discipline, not discipline from other believers … self-discipline or what the Bible calls self-control (Galatians 5:23).  Self-discipline is the price we pay for being truly free.  That’s what Elton Trueblood said in The New Man for Our Time, “Discipline is the price of freedom.”

O God, Jesus teaches us to call you Father, to see you as He sees you, as His source of life and strength and purpose.  What a joy to live in your house, by your rules!  And when that seems more like a slave’s task than a blessing, help me to remember what true freedom is.  Help me to rediscover the work of the Holy Spirit in myself, producing self-control, self-discipline, so that others might see in me the freedom only Christ can give.  I pray this, not just for today, but for every day to come!  In Jesus’ name, Amen!