What Does Freedom Look Like?

The media is all aglow with an uproar over an actor on Broadway who made a public statement to our newly elected Vice President.  Governor Pence's comment to his daughter was interesting. He referred to the expression of the actor as 'what freedom looks like'. His comment got me to thinking. What does 'freedom' truly look like?

The greatest freedom I have ever found is in knowing God.  You can't get it from education, relationships, drugs, alcohol, money, fame or anything else this world has to offer. True freedom comes from the truth about God.

Freedom is not obligatory, static, wild, over-indulgent, undisciplined, unruly, insistent, self-centered vain and certainly not controlling. It involves love, patience, courage and fearlessness .

In Romans 8:21, the first use of 'liberty' (or freedom) in the New Testament is found:

20 For the creature (creation) was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21 Because the creature (creation) itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Because of what happened way back in Genesis (as recorded in chapter 3:1-19) in the garden of Eden, the creation became subject to a great frustration as the earth fell under new management. The world around us now is not idyllic. There has been a lot of corruption. Mankind has fallen into bondage because of the evil intentions of a force other than God. But God has promised to deliver his people from this bondage of corruption and  bring them into glorious 'liberty' as his own children. True freedom does exactly that. Godly truth sets people free. To be free indeed, we have to know God and his son, Jesus Christ.

What does this freedom look like? Freedom has God at the source and lives in a heart that rests in righteousness. It is peace, it is love, it is joy. It is gentleness, goodness and endurance. It is also faith, humbleness, and self-control.

Life can be a pressurized rat race without God. The restlessness of the soul and the striving for something that  really doesn't bring joy is not '"freedom's safest place".  When our heart is genuinely free, it doesn't matter if we are alone or in the center of a crowd. It doesn't matter what other people think of us even if they misjudge us. It is a rest that enables us to love freely and is built on a rock-solid assurance that we are loved by the creator of the universe.

Have a glorious Thanksgiving!