Real freedom brings peace and tranquility, but where do you find it?
Freedom. It's a word that is bandied about often. People claim they want it, yet their actions sometimes tell us otherwise. One of the reasons, however, is that most of us think we are naturally free yet the world around us tells us otherwise. Here in America, we claim we want freedom from the government yet we time and time again elect and re-elect politicians who spend their time in Washington, state capitals and county seats and municipal city halls continually creating more and more laws restricting us when laws are already on the books that are never followed. It sounds more like madness than freedom when we pay and pay and get more and more "stuff" and rules which makes us dependent on the very bodies that we complain about.
That is really just the tip of the iceberg, folks, for whatever we think of our freedom in a political sense will mean nothing in the end. The politicians will die as will we and then find that real freedom in the secular world was just a temporary and fleeting thing on the timeline of eternity. We will also find that real freedom is something that can be found by opening our hearts to what is within us. That is the first step. So, let's take a moment to look at what that real freedom is.
We mortal humans are very weak. We start out with good intentions but something comes along that attracts us and we decide that we want it. It becomes an obsession if we aren't careful and we find ourselves gradually making that something the most important thing in our life. It might be money just for the sake of having it, never satisfied in our quest for more and more in an endless spiral. Maybe it's "stuff," material things that are expensive that, of course, costs money such as big homes, fancy cars, jewelry, the list can be endless. It can be almost anything that we can crave as an addiction, like immoral living, gluttony, drugs and alcohol and, last bur certainly not least, power for the sake of having it. Look at so many long term politicians who start off with good intentions, then over time become addicted to having power over others and the personal advantages that provides here on earth. It's certainly not limited to politics for big business and big anything can, if we allow it, convince us to do whatever is necessary to reach that level of secular success or even in the church as we've seen in some horrible examples. Corruption is just a manifestation of sin.
The key point to understand about personal weakness and resulting obsessions is that when someone gets to that point he or she has literally made it a godlike goal. It's no different really from the ancient days and image worship and it means that the worshiper is now easily susceptible to the wiles of the evil one who flits about as a spirit looking to make us slaves of sin. Make no mistake, those obsessions or addictions have then captured us and sin is now our principal goal. God becomes an afterthought at best.
In the big picture of life, both here on earth and after earthly life is done, the only way we can ever achieve real freedom is to be free of sin. The only way we can start to attain that is by letting the Holy Spirit within us take charge of our heart, put us in touch with our heavenly mediator and lead our navigation of life. Oh, we'll make some mistakes along the way because we are mortal, but if we strive with the strength that He gives us, we will finally attain real freedom when those chains of sin are broken, ultimately when we accept God's reward for being faithful and He grants everlasting life. Think about it. It is the only real hope for any of us. And then each of us who is successful will find "peace in the valley" or maybe on the shores of an eternal sea.
That is really just the tip of the iceberg, folks, for whatever we think of our freedom in a political sense will mean nothing in the end. The politicians will die as will we and then find that real freedom in the secular world was just a temporary and fleeting thing on the timeline of eternity. We will also find that real freedom is something that can be found by opening our hearts to what is within us. That is the first step. So, let's take a moment to look at what that real freedom is.
We mortal humans are very weak. We start out with good intentions but something comes along that attracts us and we decide that we want it. It becomes an obsession if we aren't careful and we find ourselves gradually making that something the most important thing in our life. It might be money just for the sake of having it, never satisfied in our quest for more and more in an endless spiral. Maybe it's "stuff," material things that are expensive that, of course, costs money such as big homes, fancy cars, jewelry, the list can be endless. It can be almost anything that we can crave as an addiction, like immoral living, gluttony, drugs and alcohol and, last bur certainly not least, power for the sake of having it. Look at so many long term politicians who start off with good intentions, then over time become addicted to having power over others and the personal advantages that provides here on earth. It's certainly not limited to politics for big business and big anything can, if we allow it, convince us to do whatever is necessary to reach that level of secular success or even in the church as we've seen in some horrible examples. Corruption is just a manifestation of sin.
The key point to understand about personal weakness and resulting obsessions is that when someone gets to that point he or she has literally made it a godlike goal. It's no different really from the ancient days and image worship and it means that the worshiper is now easily susceptible to the wiles of the evil one who flits about as a spirit looking to make us slaves of sin. Make no mistake, those obsessions or addictions have then captured us and sin is now our principal goal. God becomes an afterthought at best.
In the big picture of life, both here on earth and after earthly life is done, the only way we can ever achieve real freedom is to be free of sin. The only way we can start to attain that is by letting the Holy Spirit within us take charge of our heart, put us in touch with our heavenly mediator and lead our navigation of life. Oh, we'll make some mistakes along the way because we are mortal, but if we strive with the strength that He gives us, we will finally attain real freedom when those chains of sin are broken, ultimately when we accept God's reward for being faithful and He grants everlasting life. Think about it. It is the only real hope for any of us. And then each of us who is successful will find "peace in the valley" or maybe on the shores of an eternal sea.
RSS Feed