Freedom or self-sufficiency

Freedom. Humanity's greatest longing. People want to be free from everything that limits them in their lives, their everyday lives, what they think and do.

Most people are aware that God’s Word should be ‘a lamp to their feet and a light to their path’ (Psalm 119:105) but they prefer to be independent from God’s authority. They perceive God’s Word as a set of laws and commandments that restrict them and hence, they prefer following their own path; one that suits their lifestyle, offering comfort and simplicity. Such path leads idolatry in the form of worshiping ourselves, free from accountability and a sense of shame.

It is paradox, yet the more a person fights for their own personal freedom, the more they become dependent. Freedom is always in relation with and from someone or something. These relations, when inspired by the world, create an inner bondage that expresses itself as dissatisfaction, loneliness, hopelessness, meaninglessness, disrespect, and exploitation (among others). Power, influence, status, appearances, material possessions, education, careers, achievements, etc. become idols that we worship, breeding entitlement and pride. Whatever is gained through self-sufficiency needs to be maintained through self-sufficiency, putting people in bondage. In such a state, people fall prey to exploitation through political, economic, and cultural powers.

God’s Word is not a set of rules to follow. It is a lamp unto our feet to recognize our own in sinfulness and the behaviour and attitudes that keep us from representing His image. God’s Word is a gift of grace, inviting us to shed away worldly behaviour that keeps us in bondage. With God there is freedom. He sustains us by His grace and mercy.

When God led the Israelites out of Egypt, He freed them from slavery. The Israelites where no longer subject to the political, economic, and cultural whims of their masters in Egypt. They were free to live life according to its original design, grounded in God’s wisdom.

If we pursue worldly things as the ones mentioned above, we are returning to Egypt voluntarily, saying that we want to be a slave. We are choosing bondage over freedom.

When we follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we live in freedom. Then we will do what is right in the eyes of God. The ability to do what is right—that is freedom. Not following one's own will.

2 Corinthians 3:17 (ESV) “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

Matthew 6:10 (ESV) “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”