Right from antiquity, humans have been involved in one freedom struggle or the other. In fact freedom struggle took a much more new dimension for over a century. The wave of freedom has been blowing all over the world. Individuals under slavery has sought for freedom, countries under colonial subjugation, suppression & oppression has fought for independence, nations under one form of dictatorial government or the other have also sought for liberation and even countries under monarchical authoritarian rule in some part of Asia and Middle East are clamoring for freedom. In fact the quest and or desire for freedom seems to be inherent in every human being. Generally, men(& women) are aggressive to any suppressive or oppressive tendencies. This perhaps explain the reason for the rapid spread and acceptability of democracy as a form of government in most part of the world. In spite of all these quest for freedom and liberty humans have remained and will remain under one subjugation or the other. However, in this short piece, I don't intend to focus on socio-political freedom.
The fact is that, no mortal man is actually free. As a renowned English thinker, Jean Jacques Rousseau rightly put it "man is born free, every where he is in chains".
The question therefore isn't about whether you're free or not, but about under whose control or lordship are you? If you have not receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal saviour, sure you're under the slavery of the devil who comes only to kill, steal and destroy. If however, you're lucky to have received Him(Jesus) you're a new creature old things have passed away behold all things have become new. Every believer is under the leadership of Christ, he/she don't live his life the way he want.
Some Christians do say that, well, my body belongs to me so I have the right to leave the way I want. I could go to any where I want. I could do any thing I so wish. But on the contrary, we are not our own, we are owned by God.
"Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies." (1Cor. 6:18-21)
This clearly clarify that we don't own our lives. Our body, our knowledge, education, money or whatever resources we have isn't ours. It belongs to God. Seeking for absolute freedom is therefore a mirage. Of course Jesus came to bring freedom for the oppressed but not a freedom to do whatever we want. It's a freedom from living a sinful life.
The reality is that, all men are 'slave' to something. For an unbeliever, he/she is of course a slave to the devil. He will naturally find himself fulfilling the yearnings of the evil one whose three points agenda are killing, stealing & destruction. This explain the activities of terrorist organizations, corrupt politicians, thieves, kidnappers, arm robbers, burglars, sexually immorals- when young men take away the dignity of young ladies by sleeping with them outside marriage- among others.
On the other hand, to a Christian, he is under the authority of Jesus. He/she really don't have the leverage to do anything as he/she deems fit. Paul speaking in Gal. 2:20-21 said,
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
In other word, Paul is saying I don't have the freedom to do whatever I so like because my life isn't mine any longer but Christ's. You can't for instance marry any person you so wish. You can't undertake any job you so like if indeed you want to please God. We must therefore have it clearly in our mind that our lives isn't ours. It must be owned by either Jesus Christ or devil. The only freedom we really have is that of deciding under whose lordship we will live our lives. I suggest therefore that you place your life under the Lordship of Jesus Christ because His yoke is light just as He opined in Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Written by:
UMAR, Philip
No comments:
Post a Comment