Freedom

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Freedom.  What does freedom really mean to you?
I remember be so excited when I finally left for college for the first time.  Finally I was going to have real freedom!
I remember running the other night on the gravel road by our farm and seeing a field full of fire flies.  That felt like freedom.
I experienced a joyous freedom when the final bell rang on the last day of school this year.
Living on your own-ultimate, eat ice cream at 1 in the morning, freedom.
Those are all things that I perceived as illustrating freedom.

But what does it really mean to be free?  Does it mean we are without consequence, or without guidance perhaps?

I think that while some people believe those things to be true, they are far from truth (this is probably a matter for another post).

Galatians 5 speaks to this matter of freedom.  It tells us that we are not called to indulge in the nature of our freedom, but instead to use our freedom to make the decisions that are tough, the decisions to love and to serve.

Whoa!!! That is quite the calling there.  We are supposed to use our freedom to choose service.  We are given the ability to be free but for those who have received the calling, we give up that freedom for a life of service and a life of love.

I’m sure that many of you are thinking of several different ways you are considered free on this independence day.  And you are probably even considering how important those things are to you.  While you do that, while you consider the blessing of freedom in it’s many forms, consider freedom as a calling.  And then act on that calling.