When I was a teenager, we had an exchange student from Sweden live with us for a year. We were the same age and the best of friends. However, our cultures were very different. Legally, she was allowed to drink alcohol as a teenager, sunbath without clothing, and have a boyfriend spend the night. This was not the case with me. I suppose she found our culture very restrictive.
I remember the day she became angry and frustrated by all those restrictions. She accused Americans of being “freedom frauds”. To her, freedom meant being allowed to do whatever her heart desired. But is that freedom or anarchy?
This is true of our relationship with God. We are free as Christians, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t rules.
"Everything is permissible for me"-but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"-but I will not be mastered by anything.
-1Corinthians 6:12
In one of my favorite books, “The Freedom Of Obedience: Choosing the way of true liberation” by Martha Thatcher, She describes it this way:
“…A jet drew its frothy white stripe across my view. And with that image came a sudden awakening: The jet flew because it conformed to the laws of aerodynamics. Conformity to structure had given birth to the freedom of flight!
For centuries man had sought that freedom. He had made all manner of logical and outrageous devices to leave the ground and glide on the wind. When did his dream become reality? When he understood and submitted to the God-made laws concerning flight. When he did it God’s way, man was free to fly.”
Trying to fly without those rules would only leave the plane grounded. Where in your life do you need freedom? If you are a true believer in Christ, he has set you free. But we can choose to walk in prisons of our own making. Where are you today? Are you grounded, trying to fly by your own logic? Or are you soaring with-in Gods structure?
