Freedom by Design

Freedom is an interesting concept especially in America where we clamour and cry for freedom. Freedom to be whoever we want to be, marry who we want to marry, believe what we want to believe, say what we want to say, and do what we want to do. We send our troops to protect our freedom and even to fight for the freedom of others that are not part of our nation.  Of course, unrestricted freedom is not only a pipe-dream, but dangerous. We have our legal guidelines and moral compasses to keep our freedoms in check, yet freedom is one of our most important values.

From a Christian perspective, freedom is even more difficult to explain. Biblically we are told: the truth shall set us free; Christ sets us free; we are free from sin; even that we are called into freedom. Freedom, by its very definition, grants permission to live as we choose to live with no restraints. And yet, biblically we are also called to surrender our lives into slavery as slaves of righteousness, obedience, God, and even a slave to all.

Unfortunately sometimes the tension between our God-given freedom and God-ordained slavery causes us to slip into spiritual ambiguity. The extremes of these perhaps show themselves through legalism/judgmentalism and the abuse of grace by living with no regards to God’s purpose for our life. If you are anything like me you waver between the two and find it difficult to resolve the tension. While I do believe our Christian sub-culture has for the most part moved beyond legalism, we still beat ourselves up for our failures and hold the Law over our own hearts when we struggle to live up to what we deem as righteousness. Yet, on the other side, we often water down our own pursuit of personal discipleship and allow our personal whims to guide our lives. The beautiful thing is that Christ does not condemn us as we struggle through this tension. He still works through us and blesses us with His grace. His love for us has nothing to do with if we read our word “enough” or pray “enough” or do “enough”… and, likewise, His love for us remains unshaken even if we pursue our own dreams and desires above His will for our lives.

But there still is this question of Freedom. How can I be free in Christ, yet a slave to Christ? Does my freedom have anything at all to do with my ability to choose a career, what music to listen to, or whether Rated R movies are okay? Does my bond-service to Christ require a certain level action (works), a specific amount of time spent in prayer, or a daily scheduled Bible study? The answer is an emphatic NO! But to overcome the tension, to answer the question of freedom, perhaps we should reevaluate how we define our Freedom in Christ.

I once read (and wish I could remember where in order to give credit) an brief explanation of freedom that has stuck with me and has moved me towards true freedom in Christ. Freedom only exists when it is defined within the confines of the subject’s design. Think about that for a second… A car is only free to operate if it stays within the specific confines of its design. Can an unleaded-fuel car run on diesel? Will a sedan survive long off-roading? Can any of our cars drive through water? It is only when the car is maintained and operated as it was designed that the car is free to be what it is meant to be. Keep the car on paved roads, change the oil regularly, fill up with the right type of fuel, and drive as it was designed to drive, and the car remains free to drive. The examples of this are numerous, even in nature. Can a rose flourish in the Arctic circle? Can a fish survive out side of water? Can animals reproduce with animals outside of their own species?

So then, our freedom in Christ only exists when we operate within the confines of our design. Our design has nothing to do with how often we volunteer at church or how many people we evangelize. It has nothing to do with our choice of dinner, our political affiliation, or whether we enjoy a nice cold beer from time to time. We were designed to fellowship with God. That is it. And since the garden, when Adam stepped outside the confines of our original design, mankind has fought and clawed for freedom every which way he could. God, through Love, sent Christ to reestablish our fellowship with Him, to give us a way to operate within the confines of our original design… to give us Freedom.

And so our Freedom in Christ comes through our fellowship with Him and our slavery to righteousness is an overflow of His Love in our lives that we experience in His fellowship. Neither our freedom nor our bond-service will bring condemnation, only abundant life. So when we struggle with guilt and shame, when we find ourselves saying “I need to ____ more,” when we feel like we aren’t living in His joy,  perhaps we have stepped outside the confines of our design and all we need to do is hang out with God for a bit…