Good morning, happy Monday, and happy 4th of July!
“You say, ‘I am allowed to do anything’—but not everything is good for you. And even though ‘I am allowed to do anything,’ I must not become a slave to anything.”
– 1 Corinthains 6:12, NLT
Freedom.
What is freedom? I was thinking about this concept, and I was struck with a thought that there are multiple facets to freedom.
We have freedom FROM and we have freedom TO.
This week we celebrate the 248th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence which boldly declared the freedom of the United States FROM Britian.
This freedom declaration was anything but free … thousands of lives were lost in the fight for this freedom.
Once the freedom was achieved, maybe the bigger question came into play … what was this new country free TO do?
Not all the choices that were made were perfect, I’m not aware of any perfect country or perfect society in the history of mankind, but with our new country’s freedom FROM British rule the question became what we are free TO do, TO pursue, TO become.
The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are a couple of the most powerful documents ever drafted because the express our nations freedom TO. Rights that were granted. Limits placed on the government. Guarantees to her citizens. These were revolutionary concepts never tried before in the history of the world.
I am so grateful for the wisdom of our early founders to fight the battle to define our freedom TO establish a government of the people, by the people, and for the people … the great experiment we are all a part of.
My questions for each one of us today is:
- What do we need freedom FROM?
- What do we have the freedom TO do?
As an example, if someone had struggled with depression and was able to get treatment and beat the depression that would be amazing! Freedom FROM depression!
But, now what? What is going to take the place of those depressing thoughts? The mental energy freed up can now be spent doing what? What can that person use the freedom from depression TO do?
Arguably, this freedom TO is maybe harder than the freedom FROM.
Freedom FROM usually requires fighting, be it a war if you are a nation or a battle in your mind as an individual … but freedom TO requires a deep evaluation of who you are, what you seek to accomplish, what you cherish, what you care about … this goes to the deepest part of us.
This is hard stuff.
I don’t come to you as a guy who has this all figured out, far from it. But I do come to you today humbly asking all of us to more intentionally pursue our freedom TO.
This is a journey worth taking.
I would encourage all of us to use this freedom TO do amazing things … invest in the lives of those we love, participate in random acts of kindness, do things that make the community and our world a better place.
We can achieve significant victories in our lives by fighting for freedom FROM, but I would contend that that freedom TO is even a higher calling. Most of our fellow citizens are so busy in the day-to-day struggle of life that we don’t take the time to evaluate and reflect on such things.
This Independence Day, I would encourage you to give it some thought. 😊 Figuring this out has the power to be life changing.
Happy birthday America!
Have a wonderful week ahead!