FREEDOM!!

             Growing up and taking religion classes I had this idea that Christianity was just a list of rules. That to be a Christian was to just follow the rules…basically to take all the fun out of life. People often point to the Ten Commandments as proof of this…its just a list of don’ts, don’t do that don’t do this, or I guess in Biblical times "Thou shall nots." I thought Christianity was something that just enslaved people to rules and codes. I’ll be the first to admit that rules without relationship just leads to rebellion, and for the longest time that was exactly the case with me. 

              However as my man GK Chesterton put it; “The truth is, of course, that the curtness of the Ten Commandments is an evidence, not of the gloom and narrowness of a religion, but, on the contrary, of its liberality and humanity. It is shorter to state the things forbidden than the things permitted: precisely because most things are permitted, and only a few things are forbidden.” Imagine if instead of the Ten Commandments on the tablets it was the list of things you were allowed to do. You are allowed to marry a wife and have a family, you are allowed to climb a tree, you are allowed to drink beer, and you are allowed to enjoy the company of good friends. Ridiculous right? I mean that would be a really long list! Moses would have had to make a lot of trips up and down that mountain! 

            

You see the truth is that Christ sets you free to fully enjoy life.

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10)

That without Christ you are the slave of sin and not free at all.

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

        Think about sin and how much of it is actually slavery, and by that I mean an addiction: Pornography, premarital sex, Alcohol, drugs, and greed. Pornography is one of the greatest plagues of our society today and so many men are addicted to it that it destroys their perception of women, of the gift of sex and just what reality is. Alcohol and drugs are also a huge problem and often an addiction that destroys marriages, families, and lives. Let's not forget about greed, that voice that is always telling you that you need better clothes or a better car or that you have to outdo your neighbor or friend. It eats at you and takes joy out of your life. None of it provides what you were hoping it would...true fulfillment and joy.

       All sin is really a distortion and undervaluing of some good. For example premarital sex and adultery is taking for granted the gift of sex and the beauty of marriage. As Chesterton put it "Keeping to one woman was a small price for so much as seeing one woman. To complain that I could only be married once was like complaining that I had only been born once. It was incommensurate with the terrible excitement of which one was talking. It showed, not an exaggerated sensibility to sex, but a curious insensibility to it. A man is a fool who complains that he cannot enter Eden by five gates at once. Polygamy is a lack of the realization of sex; it is like a man plucking five pears in mere absence of mind.

      We all think we want this freedom to do as we please and that what we decide will give us true happiness and fulfillment. However this is a wrong notion of what real freedom is. As Archbishop Fulton Sheen said; “The true concept of freedom is "Freedom is the right to do whatever we ought," and ought implies goal, purpose, morality, and the law of God. True freedom is within the law, not outside it. I am free to draw a triangle, if I give it three sides, but not, in a stroke of broad-mindedness, fifty-seven sides. I am free to fly on condition that I obey the law of aeronautics. In the spiritual realm, I am also most free when I obey the law of God.” This is the heart of the problem in our society today, this misconstrued view of where true freedom is found. It is found in Christ.

Now notice how many verses there are that speak about freedom in Christ and slavery to sin:

“Everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.”  (John 8:34)

Jesus said, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32)

If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:36)

In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and He answered by setting me free. (Psalm 118:5)

 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil — and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death (Hewbrews 2: 14-15)

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

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:14)

These verses are supposed to be a slap in the face that wakes us up. To make us realize that Christ offers his infinite grace and love to us in exchange for all that sin and slavery in the world.  HE SETS US FREE. That is why Jesus says to us all to take His yoke upon ourselves.

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light”(Matthew

11:29)

What is a yoke? A yoke is a piece of wood that is carved and shaped so that it fits over the neck of an animal (usually an ox, horse or mule), causing the animal to carry a heavy load in tow. 

  (These guys look thrilled!) 

                                                   

           In biblical times a yoke was often referenced with some form of slavery or bondage. In life we all harness ourselves to something; a job, a relationship, possessions, success, or experiences. What are you yoked to? What is your priority in life? To yoke ourselves to anything besides Christ will just leave us burdened and weary with struggles and anxieties as well as sin. Christ knows this and thats why He says this right before asking you to take His yoke upon you; "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." St. Peter writes "cast all your anxieties on Him for he cares for you." In other words what Christ offers us, is to yoke ourselves to Him because unlike the yoke of sin His burden is light and life giving! 

But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. (Romans 6:17-18)

           Everyone in life has to choose who is going to be his or her authority in life. Who are they going to serve? What are they going to do with their freedom? The Truth is we all really have freedom but we all give that freedom away to something. As Archbishop Fulton sheen stated it:

“Freedom is ours really to give away because of something we love. Everyone in the world who is free wants freedom first of all as a means: he wants freedom in order to give it away. Almost everyone actually gives freedom away. Some give their freedom of thinking away to public opinion, to moods, to fashions, and to the anonymity of "they say" and thus become the willing slaves of the passing hour. Others give their freedom to alcohol and to sex, and thus experience in their lives the words of Scripture: "He who commits sin is the slave of sin." Others give up their freedom in love to another person. This is a higher form of surrender and is the sweet slavery of love of which Our Savior spoke: "My yoke is sweet and my burden light""