Personal freedom anchored in Creator

As a Fourth of July orator eulogized our forefathers who had died to give us freedom, a youth in the crowd called out, “Why don’t you tell them the whole truth? Why don’t you tell them that freedom is the most dangerous gift anyone can receive? Why don’t you tell them that it is a two-edged sword that will destroy us unless we learn how to use it, and soon? Why don’t you make them see that we face a greater challenge than our ancestors ever did? They only had to fight for freedom. We have to live it.”

We Americans are proud that we live in a nation where we have political freedom. But the paradox is that most of us are not free. We are in bondage of one kind or another, enslaved by greed, lust, appetite, immorality, drugs or alcohol. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a philosopher, writer and composer of 18th-century Romanticism, said, “Man is born free, yet everywhere he is in chains!”

If this is not freedom, what is? If political freedom does not necessarily make us free, what does?

Let us go to the Bible and to our creator to see exactly what this gift of freedom is.

Man is not free because the state or any other organization conferred freedom on him. Man is free because he was made in the image of God. “God created man in His own image; in the image of God created He him, male and female created He them.”

Man is not a robot, not a machine, to be controlled by some outside force like a wind-up doll. He is not a beast guided by blind instinct. He is man, with all the powers of decision given him by God himself. He is free. His freedom is anchored in the God who created him. But as soon as man forgets God, even though he does it in the name of freedom, be begins to build his own slavery — slavery to himself or to someone or something else. That is the ultimate disaster.

A person can say no to God, but when he does, he loses his freedom. We can use our freedom to enslave ourselves and we often do. As Jesus said, “Everyone one who commits sin is a slave of sin.” (John 8:34).

It is when we turn and say yes to God that we regain our true freedom. We see this in the story of the prodigal son in the Bible. When he said no to his father, he ended up in the pigsty as a slave. When he returned to his father, he regained his former freedom and changed the whole direction of his life.

It is in our obedience to his will that we find perfect freedom. He who is most free is he who is most surrendered to God in Christ. Christ was the freest man who ever lived because he had made his father’s will supreme. “I seek not mine own will but the will of the Father Who sent me.” (John 5:30). “My food is to do the Father’s will,” he said. “You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free,” said Jesus.

Only when we know the truth of the laws of aviation are we free to fly. In exactly the same way the purpose of the commandments of God is not to restrict our liberty but to set us free to enjoy the life God has given us. In his will is our freedom.

Christ is the one who set us free. “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31-32). “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (2Corinthians 3:17).

The word of God in the Bible calls on us constantly to use our free will in order to make the supreme choice in life, the choice above every other choice; the choice on which depends eternity for each one of us; the choice for which he gave us free will in the first place.

“I have set before you life and death ... therefore choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19). “No man can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24). “Love the Lord your God with all of your mind and heart and soul and strength; and your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27) In this choice, you will find life and true freedom.

That is our true independence day.

The Rev. Daniel Rohan is pastor of St. Mark Orthodox Church in Liberty.