What do Dunkirk, “Braveheart,” July 4, Alcoholics Anonymous, Celebrate Recovery, Tiananmen Square, Memorial Day and Normandy (the last three commemorating within a week of each other) all have in common?
FREEDOM.
That also happens to be a dominant value in young people who have watched their parents become enslaved by so many malevolent “masters,” like what people think, money, sex, power …
They long for freedom from the “prisons” that hold so many in bondage.
I see Jesus Christ as a man so free from the things in which so many are stuck. That’s why he is able to set us free from the “chains that enslave.” Jesus defined his mission from God to us this way: “(God) has sent me to proclaim good news to the poor … freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed … It is for freedom that Christ has set us free … you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (Luke 4:18-19; Galatians 5:1; John 8:36)
But so many use their so-called freedom to serve No. 1 – me, me, me. That’s when their “freedom” only buries them deeper into the mud they are wallowing in.
“You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather serve one another in love.” Loving service to others sets us free from the slavery of selfishness. (Galatians 5:1, 13)
Real life, love and liberty starts with receiving God’s love. We can’t really love anyone the way they need love unless we first let God’s love and Spirit into our hearts. Then we let it/Him out: “We love [only] because He first loved us.” (I John 4:19)
We let Him into our lives through a loving relationship built on prayer (us talking to Him) and reading the Bible (Him talking with us).
Since we can’t see Jesus, this all requires faith. But faith launches us on the freeway to the freedom that we all hunger for, not just the Millennials.
Rick Sams is pastor emeritus of Alliance Friends Church.
This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: True freedom can’t be achieved without love for Jesus | Bright Spot
Reporting by Pastor Rick Sams, Special to The Alliance Review / The Alliance Review
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