What is Liberty?

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  (Declaration of Independence)

As we come upon another 4th of July holiday, I've been reflecting on the concept of liberty. What is liberty, exactly? Is it just some elusive ideal that we'll never attain? Is is just a fancy way of saying we can do whatever we want, without regard to what others say or feel? My thinking is that if we just did whatever we felt, nobody would be happy because we would be disregarding what should be common rules of decency and humanity.  Liberty is defined by Wikipedia as " the value of individuals to have agency (control over their own actions)."  Sounds good, doesn't it? Well, let's just take another look. Because the question then becomes, "How much control do we really have over our own actions?" I can only speak for myself, but I don't always have control over my own actions. How many times have I said something and wished I could take it back? More than once. So every time somebody says they want to take control of their life, it's a lie.

The truth is that our liberty is given by God through His Son, Jesus Christ.  "He died once to defeat sin, and now He lives for the glory of God...Sin is no longer your master, for you are no longer subject to the law, which enslaves you to sin. Instead, you are free by God's grace." (Romans 6:10, 14) Many people think that being at liberty to do what they want, live however they want, is true freedom. They don't realize that when they live promiscuously, they are actually slaves to those desires. They don't necessarily have to be drinking or drugging heavily, or committing adultery, or gambling, or any of the more obvious sinful lifestyles to be living promiscuously. What I mean by 'living promiscuously' is living outside of God's grace, in other words, acting like there is no God who will hold us accountable. This is not liberty! Paul goes on to write in Romans:

So since God's grace has set us free from the law, does this mean we can go on sinning? Of course not!  Don't you realize that whatever you choose to obey becomes your master? You can choose sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God and receive His approval...Now you are free from sin, your old master, and you have become slaves to your new master, righteousness. (6:15-16, 18)

I think Paul was the one who really developed (with the Holy Spirit's leading, of course) the Christian doctrine of liberty, which is that we are free to serve God. We are not slaves to our selves any more. I find that I'm happier and more joyful when I'm not thinking about myself and my problems. And God knows this about us. We have got "look out for your self" down to an art in our culture, but it's not right, and we are actually enslaving ourselves when we fall for this.

Now don't get me wrong. I am glad, and thank God every day for the country I live in, and for our founding fathers who took on the British government so that we could have some say in how we were governed. And we have more freedom in this country than in many other countries on earth. As Christians, we have the right to worship as we please. (Even in France, people are not allowed to wear Muslim headscarves or Christians crucifixes in school!) I'm just saying as Christians, we are at even more liberty than nonbelievers because we have won our battle with Satan and our old nature thanks to Christ's death and resurrection. He died so we could be free.