Freedom

According to Mel Gibson, this was the last word uttered by William Wallace. Who knows? But it does expose our cultures common understanding of what freedom is: the removal of outside authorities telling us what to do (most commonly in a political sense). But is this what the bible really means when it talks about freedom? Not really.

Tim Keller I think appropriately defines freedom: being able to do what you most want to do. But then the question lies in: what do I most want to do? To answer that, you have to take a look at the condition of your heart.

The bible puts everybody on the planet into two camps: those with a regenerated heart and those with an unregenerated heart. The unregenerate are those who do not love Jesus and haven't been given a new heart by him. So the natural result is that their hearts are self-protective and self-interested. The regenerated heart is a heart that's made new by Jesus according to the New Covenant promise from passages like Jeremiah 31:33, 32:39-40 and Ezekiel 36:26-27. The regenerated heart's deepest desire is to please and obey God, who is the One who created the heart in the first place! You can think of it this way: a baseball bat will find it's truly enjoyable freedom when it is particularly used to hit a baseball, and not as a paperweight or doorstop; for that is what it's creator purposed it for.

This is point that Paul expounds in Galatians 5:1-15. Our true freedom is found only when our hearts are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and we are authentic Christ-followers (5:1-6). This freedom we have then needs to be protected because their are "wolves" out there who don't like the freedom that the cross provides us (5:7-12). And lastly our freedom is truly lived out not as we simply do whatever we want, but as we seek put other's before us and serve with a motivation of love (5:13-15).

So be free! Be understand that true freedom is only found in loving and following Jesus.