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Chaplain: Feel the Freedom

By Allen Teal, Chaplain

“He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” Isaiah 61:1b, NIV

Freedom lives more in the mind and heart than in the physical world. Every day, we confront limits to our freedom. The limits come in the guise of speed limits, crosswalks and nearly every law ever passed. We feel free when we operate within the boundaries of these constraints. Over the past few months, restrictions on our freedom have come from an invisible foe that has driven us indoors, caused us to wear a mask, and taken hundreds of thousands of souls from the earth. Many have learned to feel free within the confines of a much smaller space. Others have railed against every restriction.

CHRIST BRINGS FREEDOM TO HIS FOLLOWERS.

This raises the issue of what constitutes freedom. Some define freedom as an absence of guidelines or rules. Since the very words that offer freedom are from the book that contains the Ten Commandments, it appears as though we need a better definition. True freedom must originate from within the person. Any other criteria will result in some external factor eventually impeding freedom.

CHRIST EMPOWERS US TO LIVE FREELY IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCE.

A common Christian saying is, “this world is not my home.” Achieving full freedom will not come in a world filled with locks, rules and innumerable other barriers. When the righteousness that Christ gives becomes our internal guide, the world’s restrictions can no longer limit our sense of freedom. Christ gives us the freedom that comes from the ability to say “no” to evil and “yes” to goodness.

CHOOSE TO LIVE FREE.

The river that flows freely still exists within its banks. Scripture challenges us to live in freedom every day. The Apostle Paul said these words in his letter to Titus, “It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.” (Titus 2:12, NIV). Christian living brings continual internal freedom by allowing us to live by adhering to heavenly, not earthly, standards.

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