Last week we asked the question ‘Why freedom is important?’ and we alluded to the other big question, ‘What should freedom lead to in my life?’ behind the purpose of freedom.
What should freedom lead to in my life?
There are three areas where our freedom should lead to in our lives. It might sound strange to have three areas, but these areas do not conflict. Instead, they build upon each other and create a solid foundation for our life and community.
The first place freedom should lead to is improving our own choices in our lives. If we continually make bad choices, we will never be able to grow. If we choose short-term wins, we may be giving up on the long-term success that could have been ours. Our choices play a big role, and our first exercise in freedom is to choose to intentionally step forward towards the best ideal we can see in life.
In addition to choosing to step forward, we must choose to become continual learners and be on the lookout for new ways we can improve our life—whether it is through good books, taking a class to learn a new skill, or researching solutions when we run into problems.
The second place freedom should lead to is improving our relationships with others. While Adam was created alone in the garden, God quickly realized that this was the first creation that ‘wasn’t good’ — because man should not be alone. In the act of creating woman, we also see God placing an importance on relationships and living together in community.
Whether we like it or not, we live with others, and community is a positive thing. Freedom within community should enhance our community as a whole, and this is directly tied to how we exercise our freedom of choice.
The third place freedom should lead to is improving our relationship with God. It may be easy to live a life believing that God doesn’t exist or that He doesn’t interact with us personally, but these beliefs have a way of dragging us down, and they don’t lead societies to positive places.
Making the intentional choice to move toward God has a way of moving us toward stronger communities of people, and moving us toward making better choices. Moving toward God helps align our inner moral compass that can become very confused if we stay away from God, however when I say God, there are too many conflicting ideas surrounding the term.
Instead, where many people might substitute God for “the universe”, I will substitute God for Jesus Christ — because Jesus was the only person in history with the three characteristics: He claimed to be God’s own Son; He died and rose from the dead after predicting that it would happen; and He deeply desires to have a personal relationship with me.
Jesus can fill a need in my heart that the universe (while a wonderful creation that I appreciate being a part of) could never do. A clock, a car, or a house is not able to have a genuine relationship with me like my wife and I have with each other.
Instead of stopping short with our choices and our beliefs, as we continue to move forward into true freedom, we must remember that true freedom will develop us as individuals as we make better choices, strengthen our relationships with others, and draw us towards Jesus Christ (who is standing, inviting us to look past the universe and embrace true relationship with God)!
~Cam
P.S. Questions, comments, or feedback? Join the conversation below!