Freedom is a tricky word that carries many shades of meaning for many different people and situations. But it is probably safe to say that for most people it means to be untethered, without hindrance or restraint. This shaky definition works for most people because it encompasses some true elements of freedom. For instance, if you have just been discharged from military service, you are no longer tethered to, hindered by, or restrained with most military rules. But you also no longer have the boundaries, protections or provisions that resulted from those rules or your place in the military. In gaining freedom from the military, you lose some freedom to the civilian world. You are also not free from your own personal limitations, or from the actions of others, or from difficulties presented by random events along the road upon which you walk. The truth is that no one is fully free. At the very least, we will always be subject to the consequences of our free choices. In fact, it’s unlikely that a world in which we could be fully free is even possible. Imagine a world in which no one was restrained by conscience or fear of the law. In such a world, you would not be free because your goals and aspirations would always be suppressed by a need to protect yourself from people who are not restrained by their consciences or a fear of the law.
This reality is important in terms of our view of God. Some people wish to be free from God because they feel that he imposes upon them hindrances that keep them from enjoying the world in a way that pleases them most. But you weren’t made to pursue the things that please you most in the sinful state in which you presently exist. You were made for an intimate relationship with God, and when you have that relationship in its truest form, what will please you most is time in his ways.
By definition, all intimate relationships come with restraint. To violate the restraints is to violate the relationship. In violating the relationship, you lose or complicate the benefits of the relationship. This ultimately leads to distance in the relationship, which damages intimacy. So when one wishes to be free from God, one is wishing to be free from the very life they were designed to live.
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