If I were a real writer, I would be able to explain myself better; however, I will do my best to convey my thoughts. Maybe it’s just because I’m on my second Monday this week. . .
I tried to go here yesterday as I pondered the fact that it was Martin Luther’s birthday and the anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald; now I’m back to it today as it is Veterans’ Day and my brother’s birthday. I keep thinking how much we take for granted.
We especially take freedom for granted. Here it is, I live in the United States of America , a country which touts its freedom. I can paraphrase Tootie in Meet Me in St. Louis : “How lucky I am to be born in my favorite country!” I don’t know what it is like to live in a land where I need to be fearful of the leaders, lest they kill me for not holding the same ideology. I don’t know what it is like to live in a land of intense poverty. I don’t know what it is like to live under a king, a czar, brutal military rule, communism, or a spittle-ridden fascist dictator.
We live in a country rife with freedom; yet, how little we think of it. We can mock our leaders; believe in one God, no God, multiple gods, or ourselves as god; we can even bear arms and vote.
It seems as though freedom is so commonplace that we have become slaves. We are so free that we have freed ourselves from the responsibility which freedom entails. We are so free that we have freed ourselves from the morality which freedom requires. Once one sheds morality and responsibility, one opens the self up to slavery. If I cannot be responsible for my own actions, I become a slave to others telling me what to do; or worse, I become a slave to irresponsible and irrational behavior. I expect the results of freedom without realizing there is a price. If I am immoral or amoral, I am a slave to chaos. If my mantra is “if it feels good, do it,” then I am a slave to pleasure-seeking. Freedom, responsibility, and morality must work in concert.
I look at yesterday—the birth of the great reformer and the death of 29 hard-working sailors; I look at today—the life of a sibling and the sacrifices of so many men and women: I see the ebb and flow of human existence, which is birth, life, death. We cannot take these for granted. We must not take liberty for granted. For our true liberty in is Christ. He is not some mere moral teacher, nor is He a distant God off in the cosmos. No, He is Jesus, true God and true man. He was born, He lived the life we could not, He sacrificed Himself for us and died our death. All this so that we might be freed from slavery to sin. This we can never take for granted.
I tried to go here yesterday as I pondered the fact that it was Martin Luther’s birthday and the anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald; now I’m back to it today as it is Veterans’ Day and my brother’s birthday. I keep thinking how much we take for granted.
We especially take freedom for granted. Here it is, I live in the United States of America , a country which touts its freedom. I can paraphrase Tootie in Meet Me in St. Louis : “How lucky I am to be born in my favorite country!” I don’t know what it is like to live in a land where I need to be fearful of the leaders, lest they kill me for not holding the same ideology. I don’t know what it is like to live in a land of intense poverty. I don’t know what it is like to live under a king, a czar, brutal military rule, communism, or a spittle-ridden fascist dictator.
We live in a country rife with freedom; yet, how little we think of it. We can mock our leaders; believe in one God, no God, multiple gods, or ourselves as god; we can even bear arms and vote.
It seems as though freedom is so commonplace that we have become slaves. We are so free that we have freed ourselves from the responsibility which freedom entails. We are so free that we have freed ourselves from the morality which freedom requires. Once one sheds morality and responsibility, one opens the self up to slavery. If I cannot be responsible for my own actions, I become a slave to others telling me what to do; or worse, I become a slave to irresponsible and irrational behavior. I expect the results of freedom without realizing there is a price. If I am immoral or amoral, I am a slave to chaos. If my mantra is “if it feels good, do it,” then I am a slave to pleasure-seeking. Freedom, responsibility, and morality must work in concert.
I look at yesterday—the birth of the great reformer and the death of 29 hard-working sailors; I look at today—the life of a sibling and the sacrifices of so many men and women: I see the ebb and flow of human existence, which is birth, life, death. We cannot take these for granted. We must not take liberty for granted. For our true liberty in is Christ. He is not some mere moral teacher, nor is He a distant God off in the cosmos. No, He is Jesus, true God and true man. He was born, He lived the life we could not, He sacrificed Himself for us and died our death. All this so that we might be freed from slavery to sin. This we can never take for granted.
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