Many have said family is the place we feel most comfortable—the place where we are free to be ourselves, where we can kick off our shoes and relax. Family is where we will always be accepted. We are free to be who we want to be and everyone else must be okay with me being me, especially in my family.
How is it that the statistics we read about the family overwhelmingly show negative trends? How is it possible, since I’ve heard many people say we live in a world where we continue to “evolve” to become better? I attended a family reunion recently and I heard many of my elders say that nowadays are a lot worse compared to their childhoods. Where does the problem lie? If we are so free to be ourselves, if I am free to be me, then why is the family not progressing?
I submit to you that the problem is with me, the problem is with ourselves. In our great conquest for freedom and personal expression, we are blind to evaluating our personal desires. None of us wants to be told that our personal desires are improper, unbecoming, evil, or sinful. But if we are honest with ourselves, the human race is not getting better even with all our technological advances. There is something that is mastering us and it is seemingly inescapable. This master has its way with us and this master tells us we are “free” to choose any vice we desire. We so love the dark, because we know deep down on the inside that the vices we run to are bad, evil, immoral, corrupt, wicked, exceedingly sinful, and depraved. The Bible calls this master sin! This master is so deceitful, so enslaving, that we need God Himself to set us free.
Jesus said it this way in John 8—“…everyone who commits sins is the slave of sin…if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” Those whom Jesus sets free, He says “…you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (vv.31-36). To live in freedom cannot be done apart from the Son and apart from God’s Word telling us the truth; the way things really are!
Real freedom is doing the righteous, pure, and necessary things God’s way, not simply doing what pleases us.
Which freedom is best for our families—the freedom to choose any sin of your liking or, by God’s grace, the freedom to live sensibly and righteous in the present age? Which freedom will you choose to live by daily?
