One of the great blessings we have in America is liberty. Liberty is one of the hallmarks of living in this great country. We are endowed with certain inalienable rights as the Declaration of Independence so boldly declares. We have the freedom to attend the House of God on Sundays without having to go underground for worship. As of yet, we're privileged as Americans to attend church and worship as we choose. We have the freedom of speech in America to speak our minds, to protest, petition, to assemble, and the list continues. I will admit there have been many abuses concerning freedom of speech, but at least we're blessed to channel our thoughts into speech and we can say what we feel out in the public arena. How long that will endure I don't know because there are forces within our government that our doing everything within their power to clamp down on our right to free speech. Liberty is a precious commodity that we shouldn't take for granted. What does liberty mean. Liberty means not being held in chains of slavery or living in captivity. Liberty means we aren't confined. We aren't robots. We are human beings capable of expressing ourselves and living a life of freedom without an authoritarian elite trying to clamp down on every move we make.
Galatians 5:13 says, "For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another." Whenever young people grow into adulthood many of them decide to leave home and find an apartment where they can live as they please. They want the freedom to not have to be under the rules and regulations of mother and father. One of the major problems with that is many of them don't have an understanding of what freedom means and what it is to live on your own. Many young people think it's great to be able to live on your own once you're out of high school. But many fail to understand what living on your own entails. Along with the liberty to live life as you desire, there is responsibility that must accompany that freedom. That's the thought that I desire to discuss. Many people don't know how to think out of the box. They think in the box and think of what they see and what's pleasurable to them. However, they don't think of the responsibilities involved with making a living and living by yourself. When you live on your own, you must be responsible for things you previously didn't have to be as responsible for while living at home. You must be able to wake up on time to head to work, you must be responsible for managing your own money, you must be responsible for paying all your bills on a timely fashion, and you must also be responsible for periodic maintenance concerning the place in which you live as well as the vehicle you drive. That's part of what it means to be an adult and to "live in freedom." The problem with many people today whether it be young or older is they desire the liberty to live as they please but they don't desire the responsibilities that come along with it. That's why many people's lives are out of balance. They try to divorce responsibility from freedom. That's not possible. For you see without responsibility, there'll be no true freedom. A man isn't truly free when there's a lack of temperance or self-control in his life.
Take a look at the drunkard. A drunk man thinks he has the freedom to drink until he can't stand no more. Truthfully, he's in bondage to liquor. A man that's intoxicated is impaired in his senses, his judgment, and even in his coordination. What's free about partaking of an intoxicating substance that will impair you? What's free about being hooked on something that will literally destroy your life? There's nothing free about it. In today's society, many people associate freedom with license. However, that's not true freedom. Paul even instructs the church at Galatia to not use their liberty for an occasion to the flesh. We live in a very self-centered world. We think about ourselves and the freedom that's been given to us to serve ourselves. However, that kind of thinking will be destructive if we don't use it to serve and be a blessing to other people. The reason why the United States has enjoyed unparalleled freedom for over two centuries is because there has been groups of people from generations past that understood the truths of scripture and recognized life isn't about self. It's about serving the Lord. They recognized that there are responsibilities one must fulfill in this life. To them, responsibility was much more important than liberty being used as a license. That's the problem in today's society. We use liberty as a license to cheat, get drunk, to whore, to steal, to live ungodly and wicked lives. We also use liberty to be lazy as well. However, that kind of mindset will destroy you and eventually your country. One of the major reasons why modern day America has been in the shape it has for the last few decades is because we've allowed the mentality to creep in that liberty should be used as a license to sin. We bought into the notion that liberty is about serving ourselves and feeding our flesh. As a result, we're becoming a self-destructive nation. A nation that's truly free is a nation that thinks about the well-being of others. It's a nation that's responsible for its own actions. It's a nation that knows the concept of temperance and isn't wasteful and knows how to save money for a rainy day. It's a nation that understands the concept of self-responsibility. We've lost that in America today.
Show me a man that knows what the concept of liberty means. A man that knows the true concept of liberty is a man that's first of all saved by the grace of God. He knows God and the Holy Spirit resides within him. Secondly, this free man walks in the Spirit. (Galatians 5:16) He doesn't fulfill the lust of the flesh. He follows God's commandments. Thirdly, he's a man where the fruit of the Spirit prevails in his life. He has control of his members and his spirit. When a man is Spirit-filled and he has the fruit of the Spirit within him, he enjoys liberty. He can live a life that's pleasing to God. He can live a life that's productive. He can achieve great things. Why? Because he doesn't use his liberty as an excuse to fulfill his fleshly desires. He recognizes life is about responsibility. He recognizes that without responsibility, he'll live in bondange and misery. There's no way a man can enjoy liberty when he's enslaved to his passions. He's a man that's responsible when it comes to being faithful on the job, faithful in paying his bills in a timely manner, he's faithful in serving his country, and he's faithful in fulfilling his responsibilities as a husband and father. A person that's not temperate will have all sorts of problems. We are in a mess as a country economically, politically, socially, and the list continues because of the lack of responsibility in properly handling every aspect of our lives. A nation that continues in using their liberty as a license to live to the flesh will eventually self-destruct. The freedoms they once had will be gone. Freedom can only endure for generations on end whenever a group of people balance liberty with responsibility.
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