We celebrate freedom every 4th of July with fireworks, grilled food, and family traditions but what if true freedom isn’t about doing whatever we want but becoming the people who love and serve like Jesus?
This essay challenges the way we think about liberty, identity, and what it really means to live free.
Reflection and Discussion Questions:
How do you define ‘true freedom’? Why?
What examples come to mind of people who seemed to have all the freedom in the world but were still trapped in their own desires?
How do you celebrate your national identity and culture while finding your primary identity in Christ?
How do you handle loving your country while also acknowledging its flaws?
What’s one specific way you can experience true freedom by serving others?
I really enjoyed this post and this was a great question. Are you enslaved by the need to do as you please?
Many of us can relate to having fleshly desires of self- gratification, and all the other words that begin with self. And like what you wrote, this is a form of slavery to sin. John 8:34 also shows Jesus stating, “…everyone who sins is a slave to sin”. Jesus knew that we are all under the power and control of a natural tendency to be self-absorbed, in sin. And the dangers of this which brings death. (Rom 6:23). Reflecting on this, I thought about how we can deal with this power of being enslaved to ourselves. I think the more we submit to Christ, live filled with the Holy Spirit, we begin to have less of ourselves, less of loving the world, less of being swayed by our external circumstances, and more of godliness and inner strength. I think freedom in Christ is knowing and living in our new identity in Christ and following his Word, and not being bonded to the things that continuously bring out of control fixations on ourselves.
Happy Independence Day! I pray the leaders of our country will be doing what is right for the people and not what is just good for themselves.
